Nurseries are being forced to turn away new children and rely on agency staff, with over three-quarters of staff saying they are dealing with staff shortages, according to new research.
Parents are returning in droves to work in the office after the pandemic, but they are struggling to find childcare as nearly half of nursery staff say they have had to turn away new children.
A survey by daynurseries.co.uk, the leading nursery reviews website, found 77 per cent of nursery staff are dealing with workforce shortages in their nursery. The unprecedented pressures facing nursery workers have also left 44 per cent relying on agency staff to help care for children over the last six months.
The survey of over 1,300 nursery staff by the UK’s leading nursery reviews website found 41 per cent of nursery staff have had to turn children away due to pressures on staffing.
Staff shortages causing ‘significant stresses’ for nurseries and parents
A spokesperson for daynurseries.co.uk, said: “Our research shows nurseries are continuing to experience unacceptable levels of staff shortages which are causing significant stresses for workers and leaving parents without childcare as some nurseries are being forced to stop accepting new children.
“Failure to address recruitment issues threatens to risk impacting on the quality of care that children receive, as agency staff will not have the same bonds with nursery children and will be unable to form long-term relationships with them due to the transient nature of their job. This comes at a time when children need the security and comfort of long-term relationships with nursery staff more than ever after the unsettling time of the pandemic.”
The survey found 78 per cent of respondents said Covid had exacerbated their staffing shortages.
The findings come following reports that the Prime Minister is considering reducing minimum staff-to-child ratios in England. However, nurseries have widely condemned this proposal, with many saying that this will only worsen pressures on staff and lead to higher levels of workers leaving nurseries. The research by daynurseries.co.uk found 31 per cent of staff are considering leaving the sector.
The spokesperson for daynurseries.co.uk added: “Nursery staff provide an invaluable service to society; their work protects the welfare of children while aiding their development at a crucial stage in their lives. Failure to tackle staffing shortages through meaningful reforms will only worsen this crisis and government plans to reduce the staff-to-child ratio will add more pressure to the already overstretched workforce.
“With a high number of staff already considering leaving the sector, more must be done to ease the pressures they are facing to create a more sustainable working environment.”
Nursery reliant on agency staff closed permanently due to staff shortages
Staff shortages during the pandemic led to repeated closures at Honeytree Day Nursery & Pre-school in Weston-Super-Mare, and it was forced to close permanently in February 2022, after it no longer was “viable to continue operating”.
Storal Learning, which ran Honeytree Nursery & Pre-school for four years, took the decision with a “heavy heart”, according to its managing director, Ashwin Grover. Mr Grover said: “Faced with the continued levels of disruption caused by poor recruitment, it simply wasn’t viable to continue operating.
“The nursery was forced to increasingly rely on agency workers which is an unsustainable strategy in the long term.
“Our hope was to always find a solution. It was a very difficult decision for us to make especially given the importance of Honeytree in the local community and a key location by the hospital.”
Parents have had to wait months for a nursery place
Dan Coleman, who has a one-year-old daughter called Ava, has revealed how their search for a nursery left him and his partner “sick with worry”. He said: “Last summer, we got ourselves on a waiting list for a local nursery for a place in April this year. But then we were told the nursery was closing in December.
“So we tried the next nearest nursery and were told they had a waiting list up till May 2022. We were asked to attend their Open Day on 28 January and when we turned up, we were told they are not taking any new children until 2023.
“That nursery also told us to get on as many waiting lists as we can as there is such demand at the moment. All had waiting lists until 2023 except one where the waiting list is until July. We have moved forward with this nursery, but had to take different days to the ones we originally wanted.
“My partner is going to go back to her work and try to negotiate different work days. This nursery is in the wrong direction and can be a nightmare for traffic in the morning.
“The whole thing has been a nightmare and emotionally exhausting. Our parents are also going to help with one day a week on the alternate day. My mother is going to drive an almost 300 mile round trip once a month to look after our daughter on a Friday.”
The survey ran from 4 March 2022 until 24 March 2022. A total of 1,309 nursery staff across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland responded to the survey.
Are you dealing with staff shortages at your nursery?
Yes – 77%
No – 19%
Unsure – 4%
Has the pandemic made staff shortages worse?
Yes – 78%
No – 14%
Unsure – 8%
Have you had to rely on using agency staff during the last six months?
Yes – 44%
No – 51%
Unsure – 5%
Have you had to turn away new children from your nursery due to staff shortages?
Yes – 41%
No – 50%
Unsure – 9%
Are you thinking of leaving the sector?
Yes – 31%
No – 53%
Unsure – 16%
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