Holly Cairns
Question:209. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps he is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of childcare workers in County Cork. [47570/22]
View answerWednesday, 28 September 2022
Questions (209)
Written answers
I acknowledge that many early learning and childcare services are reporting staffing difficulties in relation to recruitment and retention. In general, staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover, and recruitment and staff retention difficulties are undoubtedly linked to pay and conditions, with for example the average pay in the sector being €12.60 per hour in 2021.
As the State does not employ early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners, I cannot set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector. However, there has recently been an important and historic development with the setting of new minimum hourly rates for various roles in the Early Years Services sector.
On 15 September 2022, the first ever Employment Regulation Orders for the Early Years Services sector came into effect, setting new minimum hourly rates of pay for various roles in the Early Years Services Sector as follows:
€13.00 for Early Years Educators/ School-Age Childcare practitioners;
€14.00 for Early Years Lead Educators / School-Age Childcare co-ordinators;
€15.50 for Graduate Early Years Lead Educators / School-Age Childcare co-ordinators
€15.70 for Deputy Managers;
€16.50 for Managers; and
€17.25 for Graduate Managers.
The Orders are being supported by Government’s Core Funding scheme, that I announced as part of Budget 2022, which will see increases in funding to early learning and childcare services to support improvements in staff wages, alongside a commitment to freeze parental fees. The commencement date for the Employment Regulation Orders – 15 September – coincided with the official launch of Core Funding.
It is estimated that 73% of those working in the sector will see their wages rise as a result of the Employment Regulation Orders with the wages of 50% of employees in the sector expected to rise by 10% or more, and the wages of 20% of employees are expected to rise by 20% or more.
I am also committed to addressing other issues which may impact on the recruitment and retention of staff in the sector. In December 2021, I published "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC), 2022-2028". Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in early learning and care and school-age childcare. One of its five "pillars" comprises commitments aimed at supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce, and it includes actions to raise the profile of careers in the sector.