The crisis of childcare recruitment and salaries is intensifying as Government investment pours into neighbourhood nurseries and extended schools. The private sector is being particularly badly hit, as qualified early years practitioners are attracted by the higher wages paid by the expanding public sector (see News, page 6). Last week's rise in the minimum wage will add to the pressures on small independent operators, who want to pay better wages but can't afford to. It all adds up to nursery fees being increased to already hard-pressed parents, and the goal of affordable childcare for everyone looking harder to attain.
The crisis of childcare recruitment and salaries is intensifying as Government investment pours into neighbourhood nurseries and extended schools. The private sector is being particularly badly hit, as qualified early years practitioners are attracted by the higher wages paid by the expanding public sector (see News, page 6).
Last week's rise in the minimum wage will add to the pressures on small independent operators, who want to pay better wages but can't afford to. It all adds up to nursery fees being increased to already hard-pressed parents, and the goal of affordable childcare for everyone looking harder to attain.
Education secretary Charles Clarke made welcome comments at last week's Labour Party conference about the need for greater spending on under-fives as so much less is currently spent per head than on older children. It is obvious that the priority should be to find a way of paying early years workers more. This is where extra investment could go - perhaps on some form of direct subsidy of early years salaries as happens in other countries such as Canada. Otherwise, the latest round of the Government's childcare recruitment campaign will be money wasted.
Liz Roberts, editor
