Nursery World - Opinion: In my view

Pay continues to be a pressing issue for practitioners and nurseries and was recently brought to the fore by Daycare Trust's Raising the Bar report.

Research to develop payscales is an interesting idea. But the big question is, how will scales be financed without significant fee increases? The report does highlight how Government intervention would be needed to achieve this, but it is vital that support is long-term and does not have stringent conditions attached. In the current economic climate, amid issues with the free entitlement, how can nurseries even begin to start looking at their pay structure without the firm promise of ongoing financial support?

Qualifications and skills are on the rise, but this is a Catch-22 situation. The Graduate Leader Fund does not allow settings to make their salaries comparable to teaching and doesn't address the salaries of all nursery staff. Every nursery would like to pay their staff wages that truly reflect their value, but doing this would make childcare unaffordable. Already 80 per cent of fees go directly on staff salaries.

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