NDNA agreed that unfortunately pay and conditions in the private, voluntary and independent sectors were often lower than in the maintained sector, and welcomed how the report illustrated that it was difficult for nurseries to improve salaries due to the pressure this exerts on parental fees. NDNA said that whilst it was important that there was further in-depth research and analysis into pay in the sector, it was vital to recognise that many nurseries were small businesses that would need financial support to raise pay.
Purnima Tanuku, Chief Executive of NDNA comments: “This report reflects how early years practitioners are doing a fantastic job for often little pay. Day nurseries fully recognise the need to raise salaries following achievement of qualifications and inline with other sectors, and would dearly like to reward their staff, but as the report highlights this cannot be achieved without direct Government intervention. In recent years, the sector has developed clear progression routes and career opportunities, yet pay has been unable to keep pace with this. As this report shares, it is important that experienced and qualified staff are better rewarded, but we would like to stress that money is not the only motivator. Day nurseries welcome initiatives such as the Graduate Leader Fund. NDNA was pleased when this became available to support salaries and settings would like to see a definite long-term commitment to its availability and extension of such initiatives to staff at other levels. It is also vital that reforms to the Free Early Years Entitlement are successfully undertaken as the under-funding a significant number of nurseries face not only impacts on sustainability but also their ability to improve staff pay and conditions.”
Purnima adds: “We would be interested in wide-scale research about pay although any attempt to use these figures to propose pay scales or working conditions would be extremely difficult. Higher salaries in children’s centres and pressure to keep fees affordable means that any national framework would not be reflective for many providers, and nurseries simply could not work to set scales unless they were sure that funds were available.We do not agree that providers should provide Ofsted with details about what they pay staff – this is commercially sensitive information and finding the very small minority of nurseries who may not be complying with pay regulations should not be added to Ofsted’s role. However, this report certainly makes interesting reading and raises some very relevant issues about the long-term impact of low pay on a sector that is working hard to develop quality and staff skills. NDNA has been calling for direct intervention from the Government to help address this issue for many years and we would welcome the opportunity to discuss how such an initiative could work in practice by being involved in working groups to represent the needs and views of nurseries.”
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Notes to editors:
For more information or to arrange interviews please contact Hayley Wilson, Senior Press Officer T: 01484 407066 M: 07718 803 652 or email hayley.wilson@ndna.org.uk.
