Results for "Workers in the Early Years sector: Respond to the Government's inquiry into childcare "

Showing the last 50 answers

All of the above..the childcare worker is so undervalued but the environment that we work in is very stressful

The funding we get paid is well under minimum wage

The government funding rate is far below my normal hourly rate, which means that for every funded hour, I am working at a loss

Long hard Woking hours for low pay

Wanting to meet the needs of our children and families but not having the resources to do it

Not enough staff

What is expected of us since covid & the ratio per child to adult. The forgotten profession!

Poor working conditions, long hours, low status

Not being able to afford to pay my bills but love my full time job. I’m having to pay bills on a credit card and constantly worry about how I will pay it back! I had disposable income a year ago!

Minimum wage long hours

Not enough time or people to do the job properly

All of the above are accurate I work 10 hour days with a 30 min break we are constantly short staffed and the pay does not reflect the responsibility of our job we are in charge of peoples most precious things the funding and pay should reflect that

constant illness and no sick pay

This should be a multi-code question as I would like to select all of the above!

Parents do not want to pay more than barest minimum for child care. They see it as an unwanted expense.

Government support. It’s like we are robbing people when charging them ! I charge £5ph who else works for that ?!?!

cooking on a budget and using the heating.

When I completed my NVQ3 in childcare, I received a 24p per hour pay increase, which put me just above minimum wage. It took me nearly 2 years to complete the diploma, and I felt I was adequately skilled to carry out an important job, to help the next generation learn to learn, the start of a child's education. I feel the industry is treated as a glorified nannying service, just so parents can get back to work! Each year, the pay rise I receive, keeps me just above minimum wage. I think a lot of people in the childcare sector feel under valued.

I’m a childminder. I have to work long hours to make a living wage. I charge £5.50 an hour I look after 3 children and I need to work 50 hours a week

Poor funding from government

Stress with increasing number of SEN children

I have been both parent and staff. Staff off sick, low pay and owners raking in the cash. This is my experience and others I know

Low funding rates for pre-school children. After expenses, funding rates leave childcare workers paid below minimum wage- in some parts of the country. Ofsted inconsistency and 'moving the goal posts'.

Unable to meet demand

Ratios

We sometimes work for less than minimum wage,depending on how many children we care for. With rising costs and being seen as glorified babysitters, many are leaving the sector for retail jobs with more money and less stress.

It’s a blend of low pay, low staffing, long working hours

Lack of pay as I’m better off not working as I can’t afford to put my own child into childcare in order to work within the sector

minimum wage level 3 qualification

Minimum wage level 3 qualificati

Not being seen as a professional

They ask always more

Complicated paperwork for funding .

The responsibility

All of the above

As a childminder I find that there is no funding for childminders to do mandatory courses such as paediatric first aid etc. we have to pay for our own expensive courses and in our own time. If we are not able to find a course in our area we have to pay our own transport costs and take time off work unpaid. Very expensive. We do not get paid holidays and work long hours all year round even through dangerous periods such as Covid. The government offer schools free training, paid holiday and reimbursements.

Lack of support from other sectors. Self employed childminder working long hours, some days for half minimum wage. Government “free childcare” offers over £1 per hour less than my usual charges but can’t charge “top up”

Inadequate pay has lead to staff leaving for less challenging roles that are better paid, and others are not interested in training for a low paid role.

It is a mixture of long hours and low staff. Minimum wage

Low pay long hours and low staff due to both of these

As a self employed childminder, the government “sells” “free childcare” to parents with 3 yos and over. My pay for those children is dictated by my local council and what they decide to allocate to me p/h. This sees my pay rate slashed by the dictated rates allowable. I’m not allowed to ask parents for a top up. Parents now also get the government funding which means if they put £800 into an account the government top it up to 1000. That account then pays me my monthly rate. I also have no pension apart from the awful state pension to look forward to.

Showing the last 50 answers

The work is virtually a thankless task..thr environment is very challenging and children are presenting with more and more additional needs.. the pay is also very low

Low pay for hard work and long hours. I'd actually earn more working in our local supermarket!

Because it is a huge responsibility for minimum wage, if I stack shelves in Tesco and drop one on the floor it doesn't matter. If I make any sort of error in my job it can affect a child's whole life.

I love the sector. The pressure, to recruit parents and achieve an outstanding grade, is unbelievable though.

The work load for the little pay. Especially when mcdonalds and lid offer more money than early years. Makes you loose the love for childcare

Pay rate is awful, you get stressed and overworked, no real progression for most staff members, if someone else needs a shift changing/covering you must do it and be a team player even if it doesn't fit in with your plans

Inadequate pay leads to low staffing levels. Leading to bad mental health for those practitioners working.

I am a self employed childminder and Covid has hit us very hard. I got a very small grant from the govt and have been on catch up ever since

The funding and pay is very low, the respect isn't there for what we actually do

Have since done so after a career of 34 years.Due to the increase in paperwork, level of responsibility con-paired to pay.

It’s too challenging

Lack of pay and long hours

I can technically earn more in a supermarket doing fewer hours

I can get after spending years training and keeping uonmy trainins 25 years experience in childcsre i can still get more income working in a shop with no experience and not such high responsibilities

Because government isn't putting money in towards early years where children's base is going to be build. These young children are our future. Think seriously. We early years helping working people. But we are at minimum wage working hard and sincerely. But no appreciation from government or any pay rise.

Because I can’t afford to work in early years. I would get paid more working in the supermarket where no training is required. I have to maintain good training to keep my job and pay does not reflect this.

Because of the low pay , which has not really gone up in ten years plus , lack of opportunities to progress in the sector , no training for staff personal development. A bigger workload , as staff have been cut ,

Poor pay

Early years practitioners are not given credit for the job they do, not appreciated from higher levels

Other industries compensate more fairly

Very stressful

I could work at a supermarket for less stress & work.

Pay doesn't match the responsibility of looking after so many children, often children who should have one to one staff but don't

Under valued, under staffed, under payed and stressful

Could get better pay doing something else with less stress.

Low pay

To work in a supermarket with better pay. I have a degree in early years so I don’t want to waste that.

I do this job because I want to make a difference. But it feels like I'm just treading water. I buy resources for the school out of my own pocket, I'm not earning much but we wouldn't have the resources we need if I didn't. A lack of staff makes it very difficult for us to do our job effectively. Right now our class has 5 children with extreme special educational needs along with another 20 children but just 2 members of staff. The SEN children need extra support but how 2 of us can offer this and educate the other 20 children as expected is almost impossible and I don't feel that we can give all the children what they need. Funding just seems to get worse. Our playground needs fixing. The adults toilet is in need of repair. I don't even get time to eat my lunch in my half hour break which I never get the full half hour because parents are late to collect children. If I didn't love my job and the children I would have left a long time ago. I often cry in the mornings worried about how the day will be. Our children deserve so much more and are being seriously let down by the government and its soul destroying.

Underpaid for what we do. Always short staffed because staff keep leaving and staff always getting ill because parents bring their children in I'll theñ we get ill and don't get paid for being off

Minimum pay training and knowledge not valued

Physically and emotionally draining, staffing challenges

Children's lives are in our hands. We get paid less than a person working in a supermarket

I love my job but I have a family of my own to support

Pressure

For all of the above the stress of the job is not good for my mental health

Because of the low wage & under valued

Pupils with SEND needs are rising, support staff are paid to little, there are huge gaps in staffs skills and qualifications which co- relates directly to pay. Pupil/ adult ratio needs to be reviewed as staff cannot adequately meet the needs of all children. Teaching staff are frustrated and overworked. Budgets are overstretched and I am consistently using my own funds for classroom resources. I love my job but the hours and pressures are overwhelming

I am a childminder and have to take on many children to earn a good salary.

The sector can not afford to pay staff what they are worth , as that would mean the fees to parents need to increase .

I have left. I was a registered homebase Childminder. I had to pay for all overheads as a self employed person incl training, food heating, equipment etc. I worked from 6am for first parent to 7pm for last. When Xmas came I received no pay from October to January because parents were saving up for their Xmas. I was still expected to care for their children. One family with 2 children refused to pay £1 Supplement for their children to have tea. I'd find out they had nothing to eat between school and bedtime if I didn't feed them so of course I did for free. I also used my car to collect children and had to pay for booster seats etc. Last straw was acquiring extra seats only to have parent change their mind. The government should treat early years care like primary school and pay providers a min amount per head which carer claims back. I loved working with the children but earned less than the price of a cup of coffee most of the time.

Very low pay compared to huge responsibility

More money for less hours and stress

No support

Due to job stresses, understaffing and long hours I have considered leaving early years to get a better paid job

It is very tiring and I need to take on more kids to be able to be payed enough

I’ve started work at a school

Because of the cost of living. It makes affordability very hard. Especially if your a single parent

Not enough people coming into the profession as such low pay . Should be on the same scale as teachers

I struggle to pay my household bills

To earn more money and to be able to cut down on groceries and heating.