The survey has been carried out a month before the rollout of the expanded offer of 15 hours to eligible working parents of children aged nine months and older.
Just under eight in 10 settings said they were currently finding it very difficult or quite difficult to hire suitable early years staff.
When asked to select from a list of challenges they were facing, among the top reasons ticked were:
- lack of applicants for roles (69 per cent)
- applicants lacking full and relevant early years qualifications (65 per cent)
- applicants lacking suitable practical experience (42 per cent)
- unable to meet the salary demands of applicants (50 per cent)
According to the findings, 50 per cent of respondents said that they had seen a ‘significant increase’ to the number of staff members choosing to leave the early years sector compared to this time two years ago.
In the six months prior to the survey, half of respondents also said they had had to turn children away from their setting, and nearly two in five (17 per cent) have reduced or restricted their opening hours, because of a lack of adequate staff.
More than a third of respondents (37 per cent) said they were ‘actively considering leaving’.
However, they also said feeling more valued by the government (82 per cent), better pay (80 per cent) and improved benefits (53 per cent) such as sick pay would encourage them to stay in the sector.
The findings also reveal that many settings are increasingly relying on bank and agency staff, with 72 per cent of respondents saying this was higher than two years ago.
The survey was carried out between 10 and 19 July 2024 and received 889 responses.
Most of the respondents were nurseries (38 per cent) and pre-schools (43 per cent) and childminders (10 per cent).
Commenting, Neil Leitch, CEO of the Early Years Alliance, said, ‘It’s incredibly concerning, but sadly not at all surprising, that not only are so many settings continuing to struggle to recruit, but also, a significant proportion of experienced educators are actively considering leaving the sector.
‘As these findings show, staffing challenges have already pushed many providers to limit both places and hours offered. With less than a month before the next phase of the early entitlement expansion, it’s clear just how critical the need to address the sector’s staffing crisis is.’
In response to the survey results, the Alliance is calling on the government to determine and publish a set of pay ambitions for the early years sector in England, setting out what it considers to be suitable salary ranges for each role level in the sector – and to ensure that early entitlement funding is set and maintained at an adequate level to enable early years settings to meet those salary expectations.
They also want ministers to ensure that the early years is consistently recognised and valued as an education profession, and that there are clear and consistent career pathways into and through the sector, as well as funded training and CPD opportunities.
The survey also reveals a lack of awareness around the Government’s ‘Do Something Big, Work With Small Children’ recruitment campaign, launched in February.
In total, while around half (52 per cent) of respondents said they had heard of the campaign, of those who had advertised at least one role since the campaign launch, more than eight in 10 (81 per cent) said there was no change in the number of applications for roles in their setting since its launch, with just 5 per cent noting an increase in the period, and 10 per cnet seeing a decrease.
A limited number of settings that responded to the survey knew about the £1,000 bonus payments that are being trailed in some local authority areas for new early years recruits and those returning to the sector.
Speaking to The Observer on Sunday, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said that the former government had 'recklessly rushed out a childcare pledge without a plan to deliver it, leaving working people to pay the price'.
She said she was 'determined to make sure parents get what was promised to them this year, despite the major challenges that this government faces due to the recklessness and irresponsibility of the Tories'.
She added, 'The Tories have left a trail of devastation across education and it falls again to Labour to fix their mess, including in childcare.
'This government will deliver a sea change in our early years system, building strong foundations for children to achieve and thrive at school, delivering better life chances and breaking down barriers to opportunity for all our young people.'
