Calls for action to stop childcare recruitment 'crisis' in the East of England
The TUC has released new analysis
Last updated 30th Aug 2023
The East is struggling to recruit childcare workers, according to new analysis by the TUC, using Coram Family and Childcare data.
Every East council who responded to a survey told Coram that childcare providers in their area are finding it “very difficult” to recruit childcare workers with the right skills and experience to do the job.
The analysis suggests childcare recruitment is more difficult in the West Midlands than in the vast majority of English regions.
Only the North East and West Mids are reporting the same level of recruitment problems.
The analysis is published as the TUC launches a call for a new care workforce strategy to tackle the staffing crisis facing both childcare and social care in England.
The union body says that both the childcare and social care sectors face a staffing crisis stemming from endemic low pay and insecure work, which hits their predominantly female workforces hard.
Lee Barron from the TUC said:
“We will all rely on care at some point in our lives, whether that’s childcare for our kids or social care for ourselves or our family members.
“The care our loved ones get must be of the highest standard. But that’s only possible if jobs in care are decent and paid well enough to attract and keep the right people.
“Childcare and social care must stop being Cinderella sectors. Demand for care is rising. Caring is skilled work, and the overwhelmingly female workforce deserves decent pay and conditions.
“Ministers must urgently introduce a £15 an hour minimum wage for childcare and social care workers.
"They also need to bring in sector collective bargaining and establish new sector partnership arrangements to sup skill care workers and stop the race to the bottom on pay and conditions. And ministers should require employers to end the use of zero-hours contracts and pay decent sick pay to all workers.”
Head of Coram Family and Childcare Megan Jarvie said:
“Childcare is a vital part of our infrastructure – it enables parents to work and helps to boost children’s outcomes.
“But achieving these outcomes is reliant on the skills and commitment of the workforce, so it is really concerning that we are seeing struggles to recruit right across the country.
“Action is needed to support the workforce to make sure that every child is able to access high quality early education and childcare.”
A Government spokesperson said:
“We are rolling out the single biggest investment in childcare in England ever, and are increasing the funding paid to nurseries to deliver free government hours with a £204 million cash boost this year and £288 million next year - which can be used to fund staff salaries, training and wider costs.
“We are also launching a new national campaign to support the recruitment and retention of talented staff and looking to introduce a new accelerated apprenticeship routes so everyone from junior staff to senior leaders can easily move into a career in the sector.”