The growth in nursery provision and its attendant recruitment crisis has forced up wages for nursery nurses, a new survey shows. But it's still low pay, says Ruth Thomson
Desperate nursery owners resorted to hefty pay rises last year in a bid to recruit and retain staff, according to a new survey. While many of the nurseries surveyed awarded pay rises of 3 to 5 per cent, some nursery staff enjoyed an 8 to 12 per cent hike in their annual salary.
The rises, revealed in Pay for nursery nurses, an Income Data Services' survey published last month, were almost all higher than awards across the economy, which averaged 2.5 to 3.5 per cent.
Some of the highest rises, notes the report, were 'in response to recruitment and retention pressures', a problem faced by two-thirds of the 42 stand-alone nurseries and 12 nursery chains (with 180 nurseries) taking part in the survey.
Private nurseries are paying the price of a Government policy that has put the cart before the horse, says Leslie Beber, owner of Little Acorn Nurseries in Edinburgh - a policy of expanding provision first and worrying about training later.
Ms Beber recently had a meeting with Scotland's deputy minister for health and community care, Malcolm Chisholm. 'I put it to him that while the proliferation of childcare is extremely laudable, the Government has not addressed the huge need for an influx of qualified staff,' she says. 'As a result, the pool of qualified staff has been diluted and there is now a recruitment crisis of endemic proportions.'
Of the three people who applied for a recent vacancy at her nursery, none were suitable, Ms Beber says.
Her experience is mirrored around the country, and felt all the more acutely in London and the south-east, where over 75 per cent of nurseries reported recruitment problems.
Susan Perkins, owner of Stepping Stones Child Care in east London, last year recruited for the first time in three years and says she found the experience 'a bit of a shock', with uptake falling by two-thirds. Her staffing problems are now compounded by the fact that it is proving very difficult to get relief staff.
Lynne Crussell, owner of Abacus Day Nursery in Cambridge, finds the situation no better there. 'Where all the NNEBs go, I don't know,' she says.
It took her six months of continual advertising to find a deputy manager of the calibre she wanted and she had to offer a higher salary than she had anticipated. 'I knew that I'd lose the person if I didn't offer decent money,' she says.
Bernadette Chevli, owner of Butterfly Day Nursery also in Cambridge, awarded staff a 5 per cent pay rise last year, and had to re-advertise a post for a nursery assistant.
'It's been difficult to attract staff, and Cambridge is an extremely expensive place to live, so to attract the right candidate you have to make the job financially attractive,' she says.
Richard Lay, a director of White Horse Child Care which has nurseries in Southampton and Swindon, has found that recruitment pressures due to the creation of large numbers of retail jobs have relaxed.
He awarded staff pay rises averaging 8.2 per cent last year and is now apprehensive about the increase in the mininum wage to 4.10 an hour.
'It will cause substantially above-inflation cost rises and fee increases, and it will force small nurseries, in particular, out of the market. It will also mean that substantially fewer parents will be able to afford daycare.'
Staying put Staff retention posed less of a problem for survey respondents, who were spread across the country and employed a total of 3,155 staff. Just over one third of respondents reported difficulties in holding on to staff.
Nurseries contacted by Nursery World have found that they are able to hold on to a dedicated core of staff, retained in large part due to extensive training programmes and other benefits, but are nevertheless losing staff to newer forms of provision.
Leslie Beber has found herself unable to compete with jobs in wraparound care which offer short hours, long school holidays and higher hourly rates.
One of the deputy managers at Bernadette Chevli's nursery has just had a baby and has been lured away by the long holidays and shorter days offered by school posts.
For Ginny Taylor, owner of Wind in the Willows in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside, the competition has come from local Early Excellence and Sure Start projects. Based in a Single Regeneration Area in one of the poorest parts of the country, she pays her junior staff the minimum wage, to keep fees affordable for parents. Meanwhile the local Sure Start project is paying about 5.60 an hour. 'We just can't compete,' Ginny says.
Despite the above-average pay rises, childcare remains one of the lowest- paid sectors in the country, according to the IDS survey. Annual median salaries for a 40-hour week for qualified nursery nurses were a starting rate of 8,342 and a maximum rate of 10,428 (see box).
Interestingly, the survey notes that it 'did not find any evidence that nursery chains paid significantly better or worse than the small independent nurseries'.
Qualified nursery nurses in local authority nurseries generally earned more. Pay scales for nursery nurses working in local authority services range from 9,564 to 12,081, with additional London allowances of 2,481 for inner and 1,320 for outer London.
The Thomas Coram Research Unit has now carried out extensive research into nursery workers' pay, the first part of which will be published in the spring. But, says Professor Peter Moss, 'Both studies confirm the low pay rates of nursery staff.'
For the time being, private nursery owners have to continue to try to balance the books while trying to hold on to dedicated staff. Liz Wardale, owner of Jigsaw Private Day Nursery in Cleveleys, Lancashire, could afford to give her staff a pay rise of only 4 per cent last year. 'The amount I pay my staff is certainly not what I want to pay them,' she says.
And she is not alone in finding a transient minority of staff affecting morale among the long-serving core. With a decline in the quality of applicants and number of applicants, Liz says, 'It's the last member of staff that is the problem. They tend to come and go, and it's very difficult to find somebody who is interested and conscientious.'Profile of nursery staff
Pay Nursery assistants
- Starting rates of pay were 3.30 to 3.80 an hour, with a median starting rate of 3.70.
Qualified nursery nurses
- Most respondents paid their nursery nurses a starting rate of 3.80 to 5 an hour, with a median starting rate of 4.
- Maximum hourly rates were mostly in the range of 4.50 to 5.75, with a median maximum rate of 5.
Managers
- The median minimum salary level was 11,700 for a deputy manager.
- The median starting salary for a manager was 14,000.
London and the south-east
- Three-quarters of the nurseries paid assistants more than 3.70 an hour and more than four-fifths paid nursery nurses more than 4 an hour.
Age
- On average, under-22s comprised around one-quarter of the workforce, although in some nurseries the proportion was much higher than this.
Hours
- Basic weekly hours ranged from 35 to 45 a week.
- Over half the nurseries contracted staff to work 40 hours a week.
Holidays
- Three-fifths of respondents gave staff 20 days' holidays.
- Over one-third of respondents gave additional service-related holidays.
