Editor's view

The issue of nursery nurses' pay is filling our news pages once again this week. In Glasgow, Unison members are taking to the streets later this month in support of a national pay claim for Scotland for nursery nurses in social services daycare and state schools. The single status agreement that is meant to sort out the regrading of these jobs is suffering from delays and does not, in any case, hold out a promise of much more money for nursery nurses. Across the sector as a whole there is disquiet that the level of pay remains so low for people who are doing such a vitally important job. 'We must as a Government surely do something,' says Barry Sheerman, chair of the Select Committee on Education. The Government's view, however, is that enough is already being done, and that the initiatives it is putting in place, such as the childcare tax credit, will trickle down and boost salaries. But many providers still feel that is impossible to pay their staff more and this, combined with the recruitment crisis, just means that they are unable to find enough good staff. Many in the sector believe that more direct intervention on pay is necessary.