78% of early years settings struggling to recruit staff

Over three quarters of early years settings have found it difficult to recruit staff in the last year, with nearly half (48%) finding it ‘very difficult’, according to a new survey launched just before ‘free’ childcare is extended to nine month olds.

The online survey by the Early Years Alliance, based on 889 responses from early years providers, found more than six in 10 respondents (61%) reported that staff from their setting had left the sector entirely over the previous six months, while eight in 10 (82%) had seen an increase in the number of staff members leaving the sector compared to two years ago.

As a result of the sector’s ongoing recruitment and retention challenges, in the six months prior to the survey, half of respondents (50%) have had to limit or stop taking on new children and nearly two in five (17%) have reduced or restricted their opening hours. Half of settings (51%) said staffing shortages have had a negative impact on the quality of provision.

The survey also found that over a third of respondents (37%) are actively considering leaving the sector themselves. These respondents did, however, cite several changes that would encourage them to remain in the sector. These include feeling more valued by the government (82%), better pay (80%) and improved benefits (53%) such as sick pay.

The findings come just a month before the next phase of the early entitlement expansion – which will offer 15 hours per week of funded early years provision to eligible children aged nine months and older – and six months since the start of the Department for Education’s early years recruitment campaign: Do Something Big, Work With Small Children. In total, while around half (52%) of respondents said they had heard of the campaign, of those who had advertised at least one role since the campaign launch, more than eight in 10 (81%) said there was no change in the number of applications for roles in their setting since its launch, with just 5% noting an increase in the period, and 10% seeing a decrease.

In response to the survey results, the Alliance is calling on the government to:

• Determine and publish a set of pay ambitions for the early years sector in England, setting out what it considers to be suitable salary ranges for each role level in the sector – and to ensure that early entitlement funding is set and maintained at an adequate level to enable early years settings to meet those salary expectations.

• Ensure that the early years is consistently recognised and valued as an education profession

• Ensure there are clear and consistent career pathways into and through the sector, as well as funded training and CPD opportunities.

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