Childcare practitioners 'living in poverty' - exclusive survey

A survey looking into the financial situation of the childcare workforce found that while 50% of respondents earn less than £17,000 per year, 14% have a total household income of that amount- leaving them officially unable to make ends meet.

Households with an income of less than 60% of the UK average – £17,640 a year, according to latest figures – are in relative poverty.

Having a degree or years of experience is no guarantee against poverty pay either, our survey found, as 10% of staff with degrees were also in poverty.

Significant numbers meet Government deprivation criteria, with 43% saying they can’t, or sometimes struggle to save £20 per month.

And 33 respondents told us they had been forced to use a food bank in the past year.

Laura Gardiner, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation, said, 'Childcare workers have been first-hand witnesses to the problem of working families in poverty, but these figures show that they are disproportionately likely to have experienced in-work poverty too.'

Our survey, which attracted 1029 responses, highlights how educating young children often does not provide a liveable wage. One respondent said, ‘I am now lucky enough to have a partner with an income level which means I can afford to work in childcare.’

Parents, The Early Years Alliance, NDNA and PACEY have also reacted with horror to our findings and called on the Government to increase funding rates.

One parent said, ‘This is deeply distressing. The staff at my twins’ nursery are wonderful and caring, they go out of their way to not only keep them safe but actively encourage the children to play and explore. It is terrible to think that the very people I trust my children with, who work full time, could be struggling to make ends meet. The Government must act to subsidise childcare provision more fully.’

But a Department for Education spokesman effectively blamed the sector for the low pay, saying ‘early years providers are responsible for setting pay and conditions for their employees’.

• Full survey and analysis out on Monday in our Nursery Management supplement