- Covid drives ‘substantial’ number of childminders into poverty
- Four in ten nurseries relied on reserves
Childminders and nannies resorted to selling personal belongings and borrowing money from family and friends to boost their income during the height of the pandemic.
New research into early years care and education during Covid-19 by Leeds University reveals the financial impact of the pandemic on providers and the lengths they took to increase their household income due to salary losses.
Measures included selling personal possessions such as cars, borrowing money and applying for universal credit for childminders and nannies, while nurseries drew on reserves, changed staff contract conditions and took on debt.
Dr Katy Hardy, lead author with Professor Jennifer Tomlinson, told Nursery World, ‘It is well known that many of the issues identified preceded the pandemic, but Covid-19 has served to accelerate really serious problems relating to sustainability, morale and access.
‘A care-led recovery is vital for addressing these issues for workers, children and parents alike. We know that underinvesting in early years only stores up problems – and costs – for the future.
‘Conversely, investing in these first critical years of children’s lives and the people who provide their education and care can intervene to address future social, health and economic issues even before they emerge.’
The research, funded by the ESRC, is based on a survey of more than 2,000 nursery managers, childminders and nannies during Wave 1 of the pandemic (December 2020) and nearly 1,400 during Wave 2 (July 2021). A number of in-depth interviews were also carried out with childcare providers.
Researchers also surveyed around 2,000 parents over both Covid-19 waves and carried out interviews.
The report – Essential but undervalued: early years care & education during COVID-19 – suggests the pandemic likely placed a ‘substantial’ proportion of childminders below the poverty line, with 32 per cent earning less than £10,000 in 2020/21. This was largely due to a fall in child numbers and hours.
Between the pre-pandemic financial year, 2018/19 to 2020/21, there was a more than two-fold increase in the proportion of respondents earning less than £10,000 a year. In the same timeframe, mean income decreased from £17,532 in 2018/2019 to £14,340 in 2020/21.
According to the research, which compares data from the first (2020) and second wave (2021) of the pandemic, during the first lockdown, six out of ten childminders received no fees from parents and 14 per cent were paid at a reduced rate.
David, a childminder from Bristol, said, ‘We were entirely dependent on the goodwill of parents to pay when they didn’t have to. If any of them said no, we wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.’
While the findings suggest there was widespread take up of the Government’s Self Employment Income Support scheme (SEISS), with three-quarters of childminders in England and Wales benefitting [according to the survey], 25 per cent were unable to access the scheme, mainly because they were ineligible or did not think they were eligible.
Despite good take up of the SEISS by childminders, three-quarters of those who took part in the research said the grant was not sufficient to replace their usual income, pushing many into poverty.
To address salary shortfalls, 38 per cent of childminders dipped into personal savings, 21 per cent sold personal belongings and 33 per cent had to rely on their partner’s income.
One childminder reported having to sell their car to make ends meet.
Lack of sick pay was also an issue for childminders, according to the research, as well as not being considered a ‘key’ or ‘critical worker’ by the Government during lockdown periods, unlike nursery and teaching staff. For some childminders with their own children, the latter prevented them from working.
One childminder from London said, ‘The head teacher, in the end, came round and said there were people who were more important than me who needed the childcare.’
Nannies
Similarly, nannies experienced a drop in their income, with the number without a job jumping from 1.1 per cent before the pandemic to six per cent during 2020, reveal the University of Leeds’ findings.
In general, those who were unemployed tended to be in their 30s and have five years or more experience in the role.
Like childminders, some nannies had to resort to measures to boost their income (see table), with more than eight per cent borrowing money from family and friends during the first Covid-19 wave in 2020, ten per cent selling belongings and nine per cent applying for universal credit.
During Wave 2 in 2021, those borrowing money marginally dropped, but slightly more nannies (11 per cent) resorted to selling belongings.
Nannies who took part in the research also felt their health and safety had been put in ‘danger’ by their employers not respecting the rules on social contact or isolation.
Josephine, a nanny from London, explained, ‘I had some Covid symptoms and took a test. But it took four days for the results to come back. My employers expected me to come in in that middle period when they shouldn’t have, I should have been isolating.’
This echoes previous anecdotal evidence from the British Association of Professional Nannies (BAPN) in August 2020 which highlighted how many nannies working through lockdown had felt ‘exploited by their employers’ and ‘as if their lives didn’t matter’.
Nannies in the latest research also reported having to work longer hours, look after more children and take on extra responsibilities, such as cleaning and housework.
One nanny said, ‘It’s not part of my job really to do cleaning, but I do have to make sure the children’s things are all clean. So, I was doing their washing, and making sure their rooms were clean and tidy. But at that point, their cleaner wasn’t coming in because she had to get the tube from somewhere far away.’
Home-schooling and parents working from home, leading to increased ‘surveillance’ from employers, also added pressure.
A nanny from Bristol said, ‘The main thing I’m finding difficult is having parents working from home, so we’ve got reduced space. The parents interrupt us and disrupt our day.’
Nurseries
According to the research, 40 per cent of nurseries went into deficit between June and December 2020, and just under a third (31 per cent) during the period January to July 2021. During both periods, among those in deficit, about a third had a deficit of greater than 20 per cent. The researchers say the findings suggest ‘indebtedness’ across the sector, which, if not caused directly by the pandemic, was likely worsened by it.
In the first part of the pandemic (Wave 1), nurseries took a number of actions to stay financially viable, with the most common being using reserves (40 per cent), changing staff contracts (19 per cent) and taking on debt (16 per cent). A total of 14 per cent permanently cut staff, while close to three per cent reduced the number of funded places they offered. Almost a third of nurseries took no action, however.
Workforce challenges
The research also highlights how the pandemic has intensified the sector’s recruitment and retention crisis.
By July 2021, 55 per cent of nurseries said it had become harder to recruit new practitioners and 25 per cent reported staff turnover to be higher compared to before the pandemic.
Earlier this month, Nursery World reported nursery group Storal Learning had been forced to close one of its settings due to a lack of staff and inability to recruit, exacerbated by Covid-19. The setting had been relying on agency staff which it said was an ‘unsustainable strategy in the long-term’.
Zoe, a childcare practitioner working in a private nursery in Bristol, told researchers at the University of Leeds, ‘We don’t’ have enough people. We haven’t actually had a manager since August when our manager left. No one has applied for the role.’
Respondents spoke about how employees looking to leave were applying for higher-paid retail work.
Practitioners talked about avoiding opportunities for promotion, with one saying, ‘Managing two or three members of staff is not worth the hassle of 20p an hour extra.’
The research also reveals how childcare practitioners feel they have been put more at risk in their jobs due to Covid and their responsibilities have been widened. Some practitioners said they had to take on additional safeguarding roles.
Families
Separate findings from the survey of parents and interviews reveals the impact the pandemic has had on their employment, their child’s development and the affordability of childcare.
Recommendations
The report makes a number of recommendations, they include:
- Recognising all early years workers as critical workers, triggering priority access to PPE, testing and vaccines during Covid-19 and in any future pandemic.
- Making statutory sick pay available from day one in a job and extending it to include periods of legally mandated isolation and necessary care of dependents.
- Government support for the home-based early years sector, including both bridging funding that would enable them to remain in the profession and long-term funded training opportunities.
- Better integration of home-based early years professions into Government guidance during pandemics and other crises and, as a matter of course, that this reflects the specificities and unique nature of work offered in a home setting.
