News of the latest increase in minimum wage this week causes me great concern. The simple fact is becoming more and more apparent to me that quality nursery provision simply cannot be provided for the price that both Government and the public currently feel is fair and affordable.
To provide quality childcare, you need to ensure that you recruit and retain staff of admirable quality and skills. You also have to accept that staffing will cost between 55 and 65 per cent of the gross fees you charge.
At the Childcare Corporation we have a policy whereby we seek, wherever possible, to use 75 per cent NVQ3 staff, rather than the Ofsted basic of 50 per cent NVQ2/3. This, in our opinion, ensures that we can provide the best service.
However, with the successive rise of the minimum wage over recent years, we now find that the pay differential between unqualified people and those who have studied hard to obtain qualifications is derisory. Having just spent eight days climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with four members of our staff, I can report that this injustice was one of the main areas of concern they chose to discuss with me.
It must be galling in the extreme to go through all that study, only to find that someone totally untrained is earning almost the same. Where is the incentive for future practitioners to make the effort?
Much has been said about the need for graduate employees in childcare to ensure standards are maintained. But how is this going to work in terms of pay differentials if we cannot even afford to pay realistically for current staff?
The simple fact is that in an effort to keep childcare costs down to a realistic level, staff are constantly being short-changed. Let me immediately dispel any thoughts of 'greed' within the private sector or a push for higher and higher profits. In all the independent sector reports over the last two years it has been made quite clear that private providers, far from enjoying profits, are struggling to make ends meet.
In my opinion, the private sector needs to increase childcare fees by 12 to15 per cent simply to pay a fair and reasonable wage to those whose dedication and training give children the best start in life. But how would the Government and the public react to paying a full, and unsubsidised, price for the quality of childcare they agree is essential?
Alan Bentley is chairman of the Childcare Corporation
