Unions have warned that the crisis is also hitting preparations for the new inspection framework for the EYFS, which starts in September.
Inspectors are currently working a 36-hour week to rule, refusing to do overtime or use their personal cars for business, which means that many are unable to complete work allotted to them.
The below-inflation three-year pay offer is part of a move to a new pay structure and affects 1,000 Ofsted workers represented by Unison and the Public and Commercial Services union.
In May, members of both unions took part in a one-day strike after pay talks broke down (News, 21 May). Further strikes are being considered.
Unions claim that the new pay structure is divisive because it favours higher paid grades and means that school inspectors will get nearly double the salary of nursery inspectors.
Forty per cent of school inspectors will receive pay rises of over 6 per cent a year in the three-year deal, well above inflation.
In contrast, one third of all early years and social care inspectors and managers will have their salary frozen in years one and two, and a quarter of them will still have their salaries frozen in year three.
Unison national officer for Ofsted, Helga Pile, told Nursery World, 'It's symptomatic of the wider issue of undervaluing the early years sector. Their vital work is not valued in the same way as school inspectors. School inspectors have been rewarded disproportionately.'
She added that working to rule had shown early years inspectors how much unpaid overtime they usually did to meet targets.
Unison said Ofsted underspent by £8.6m last year and that chief inspector Christine Gilbert received a 21 per cent pay rise, earning £230,000.
