Financial review of early learning and childcare in Scotland: the current landscape

Workforce

This chapter presents available data and information on the current ELC workforce. The Scottish Social Services Council ( SSSC) provide key data on the whole Scottish social service sector workforce. Numbers of teachers are available from the Scottish Government Early learning and childcare statistics.

Key information on the workforce includes:

• The daycare of children workforce comprises 39,450 staff of whom 33,460 are in the daycare sector, 5,570 are childminders and 440 work in childcare agencies. Of the overall workforce, around 23,000 deliver the funded entitlement.
• Of the daycare of children workforce, 40 per cent work in local authority settings, 40 per cent in private settings and 20 per cent in the non-profit sector.
• It is estimated that 15 per cent of the daycare workforce holds or is working towards a qualification at SVQ level 2, 67 per cent holds or is working towards a qualification at SVQ level 3 and 19 per cent holds or is working towards a relevant university degree.
• Just about half of the childcare workforce works part-time. The total childcare workforce works an average of 26.6 hours per week.

Staff numbers

SSSC indicate that in 2015 the total workforce in the childcare sector comprised 39,450 staff ^[32] of whom an estimated 27,000 are associated with the delivery of ELC to two, three and four year olds (funded and unfunded). Around 23,000 of the daycare workforce are employed at services that offer the funded entitlement in 2016. Just under 6,000 of those have started employment in funded ELC settings during or after 2014.

Of the 39,450 staff, 33,460 are in the sector of daycare for children ^[33] , 5,570 are childminders and 420 work in childcare agencies. Of the daycare staff, 13,140 were working in local authority settings (40 per cent), 13,780 in private settings (40 per cent) and 6,540 in the third sector (20 per cent). The overall headcount of staff in daycare of children has increased by 3 per cent, from 32,370 in 2014. Compared to 2011, the daycare of children's workforce has increased by around 8 per cent from 30,800 The number of childminders has remained approximately stable compared to 2014, although it is around 3 per cent smaller than in 2011.

Table 18: Staff providing funded ELC

Active employment with funded entitlement ELC Service	Active employment with funded entitlement ELC Service and working within funded ELC for less than 2 years
23,048	5,961

Source: SSSC registers 2015

Most workers are female (96 per cent in daycare services, 93 per cent in childcare agencies). Apart from around 20 male childminders, all childminders are female. Median age across the childcare workforce is 36 years but differs by employer type. While the median age in public daycare settings is 43 years, it is 28 years in private and 36 years in the voluntary sector. This suggests that there is a tendency of childcare workers to move towards the public sector as they gather more experience.

Table 19: Profile of the childcare workforce ^[34]

		Daycare	Childminders
Number	LA	13,140	-
	Private	13,780	5,570
	Non-profit	6,450	-
	Overall	33,460	5,570
Gender		96% female	100% female
Median age	LA	43	-
	Private	28	45
	Non-profit	36	-
	Overall	36	45

Source: SSSC Report on 2015 workforce data

Skills and qualifications

Depending on the specific post or job function, there are several routes to working in the childcare sector. For example, the role of a nursery teacher requires Qualified Teacher Status which can be obtained by completing Initial Teacher Training by holders of a postgraduate degree in Education (or equivalent qualifications). There are also academic degrees ( BEd or BA/ BSc with Qualified Teacher Status) which directly award Qualified Teacher Status.

Other posts and job functions require certain vocational qualifications, depending on the level of responsibility and contact with children.

SSSC categorises workers into 8 different job functions: ^[35]

• C0 - Administrative staff whose main remit is to provide administrative, clerical and business support or direction and who normally have little direct, and no unsupervised contact with service users. They may be involved in a strategic role such as finance or policy planning. This can contain secretaries, accountants, human resources staff.
• C1 - Ancillary staff whose main remit is not providing care but who normally have direct, often unsupervised contact with service users. This category includes cooks, janitors, gardeners, maintainers or builders.
• C2 - Class 2 workers: Staff who provide direct personal physical, emotional, social or health care and support to service users and are accountable for dealing with routine aspects of a care plan or service. These staff usually have no supervisory responsibility. This category will contain mostly childcare support workers, usually qualified at SVQ 2 or equivalent.
• C3 - Class 3 workers: Staff who supervise the delivery of particular aspects of care and services in a particular setting which usually involves supervising other staff on a day-to-day basis ( e.g. Meals Supervisor, Chargehand, Day Care Instructor, Senior Care Assistant). Staff may also contribute to the assessment of care needs, the development/implementation of care plans and the monitoring/evaluation of the delivery of care and services, as required. This category comprises childcare practitioners. In daycare settings, they will usually have a qualification of SVQ 3 or equivalent.
• C4 - Class 4 workers: Staff responsible for the assessment of care needs, the development/implementation of care plans, the delivery of care and services and the monitoring/evaluation of the delivery of care and services within a specific setting. Staff work with minimal supervision, are likely to but don't necessarily supervise other staff and may be designated to take charge of a discrete service delivery area in the absence of the person with continuing responsibility. This category contains practitioners, as well.
• C5 - Unit/project managers: Staff with continuing responsibility for the management of care and service provision in a discrete service delivery area ( e.g. a single service care home, a service delivery unit in a care home with multiple services, a specific project involving a number of professional staff, a social work team). Staff are responsible for monitoring and maintaining standards of care and the management/deployment of staff and other resources in that service delivery area. This category may refer to lead practitioners or senior staff.
• C6 - Group managers: Staff with continuing overall responsibility for the management of care and service provision in two or more discrete service delivery areas ( e.g. a group of care homes, a care home comprising a number of service delivery units, a number of projects, a number of social work teams). Staff are responsible for monitoring and maintaining standards of care, setting aims and objectives and the management/deployment of staff and other resources across those service delivery areas. Workers comparable to head teachers and deputes fall within this category.
• C7 - Directors: Staff with the highest level of continuing overall responsibility for the management of care and service provision in the organisation. Staff at this level have a given place on the organisation's governing body ( e.g. the management board) with a major say in overall strategic direction, organisational policy and the deployment of financial, human and physical resources. This will usually be the head/manager.

Figure 10: Job functions in day care of children

Source: SSSC registers 2015

All staff working in daycare of children services (except childminders) need to be registered with SSSC and hold (or to be working) towards achievement of certain qualifications. In particular, this means that care workers in supporting roles are required by the terms of registration to hold or be working towards a relevant practice degree at SCQF level 6/ SVQ level 2 ( e.g. National Certificate) or above. Care workers in roles with more responsibility are required by regulation to hold or work towards at least a relevant degree at SCQF level 7/ SVQ level 3 (or comparable). Managers of daycare services need to hold or be working towards a relevant university degree and practice qualification.

Regulations require workers in particular job functions to hold or be working towards certain qualifications and we can use this to infer current qualification levels as shown in table 20 below.

Table 20: Daycare staff numbers estimated to be holding/ working towards qualification

	SCQF 6/ SVQ 2	SCQF 7/ SVQ 3	University degree
Number	4,300	21,790	5,240
Proportion	15%	67%	19%

Source: SSSC workforce data

Childminders do not have to register with the SSSC and therefore are not subject to the above qualification requirements. Instead, they need to register as a childminding service with the Care Inspectorate. In order to apply successfully, they have to demonstrate relevant experience. In addition, the premises where the service is provided needs to be fit for purpose and the service needs to make appropriate health and safety provisions.

Teachers

Until 2003, nursery classes in local authorities were required to employ a teacher. ^[36] Since this was repealed in 2003, the number of teachers employed in nurseries has fallen. In 2006/07 there were 1,686 full-time equivalent GTCS-registered teachers in pre-school centres, compared to 1,032 FTE in 2015. ^[37] The headcount of teachers is currently at 1,577.

In 2015, around three quarters of children at eligible ELC centres had access to a GTCS registered teacher during census week (73 per cent, down from 74 per cent in 2014). This includes children whose access was provided by external teachers on an ad hoc or occasional basis. Some local authorities only ensure access to teachers for 3 and 4 year olds. The number of children with access to a teacher as a proportion of just 3 and 4 year olds (rather than all children) is 82 per cent (85 per cent in 2014).

Table 21: Number of teachers in ELC settings

	Total number				Full Time Equivalent ( FTE)
	LA	PP	Centrally employed	All	LA	PP	Centrally employed	All
Aberdeen City	63	6	0	69	49	4	0	53
Aberdeenshire	83	2	7	92	54	1	7	62
Angus	50	2	3	55	3	2	3	8
Argyll & Bute	1	2	2	5	0	1	2	4
Clackmannanshire	12	1	1	14	10	1	1	12
Dumfries & Galloway	49	0	2	51	24	0	1	25
Dundee City	40	1	0	41	28	1	0	28
East Ayrshire	5	1	9	15	5	1	6	11
East Dunbartonshire	46	12	4	62	19	5	3	27
East Lothian	54	3	2	59	41	3	2	46
East Renfrewshire	41	3	2	46	25	2	1	28
City of Edinburgh	101	54	4	159	84	43	3	130
Eilean Siar	17	1	0	18	2	0	0	2
Falkirk	52	0	3	55	19	0	3	22
Fife	88	3	11	102	56	2	11	69
Glasgow City	56	22	7	85	40	14	6	60
Highland	0	0	27	27	0	0	23	23
Inverclyde	19	2	0	21	7	0	0	8
Midlothian	21	0	5	26	18	0	4	23
Moray	7	4	0	11	4	3	0	7
North Ayrshire	6	0	44	50	2	0	26	28
North Lanarkshire	68	0	0	68	59	0	0	59
Orkney Islands	32	0	2	34	9	0	2	11
Perth & Kinross	22	10	17	49	18	8	14	41
Renfrewshire	2	1	26	29	1	1	24	25
Scottish Borders	38	0	12	50	13	0	10	23
Shetland Islands	18	2	0	20	6	1	0	8
South Ayrshire	46	6	3	55	34	5	2	41
South Lanarkshire	87	6	0	93	64	7	0	70
Stirling	0	5	5	10	0	2	5	7
West Dunbartonshire	0	0	15	15	0	0	10	10
West Lothian	85	6	0	91	60	4	0	63
Scotland	1,209	155	213	1,577	754	111	167	1,032

Source: Scottish Government Early learning and childcare statistics 2015

Work patterns

Just about half of the childcare workforce works part-time (52 per cent). ^[38] The overall average hours worked per week for staff associated with day care of children are estimated at 26.9. The figure is higher in the private sector, where staff are estimated to work an average of 30.8 hours per week, and lower in the public and voluntary sector where average hours worked per week are estimated at 26.5 and 20.6 respectively. ^[39] Data from ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings indicate Childminders work on average 24.4 hours per week.

The SSSC workforce report shows, however, that median weekly hours are considerably higher. ^[40] For example, half of the staff associated with day care of children work more than 30 hours per week (35 hours/week in the private sector, 20 hours/week in the voluntary sector, 33.5 hours/week in the public sector). This implies that some fraction of the workforce works disproportionately short hours.

Table 22: Work patterns of the ELC workforce

Average weekly hours	Childminding	Day Care of Children	Total
Public	-	26.5	26.5
Private	24.4	30.8	28.9
Voluntary	-	20.6	20.6
Total	24.4	26.9	26.6

Source: Care Inspectorate annual returns 2014, ONS ASHE 2014

Wages

During the collection of financial data from partner providers and local authorities, information on staff costs and salaries has been collected.

The average annual full-time salary cost of managers is estimated at around £58,000 for managers in a local authority setting and £23,000 in a partner provider setting. Average salary costs for practioners in local authority settings is estimated at £28,000 and £15,000 (£17,000 for senior practitioners) in partner provider settings.

This suggests there is a substantial wedge in staff costs (salaries and other non-wage staff costs such as employer's pension contributions) across public and non-public provision of ELC (see the chapter on Finance for further detail).

Figure 11: Wages by function and sector

Source: Ipsos MORI, Scottish Government

The difference between public and private/third sector wages may be a result of different levels of qualifications and experience. For example, SSSC registers indicate that practitioners in partner provider settings are over 4 times as likely to have a qualification condition ( i.e. are still working towards their qualification) than practitioners in local authority settings (around 20 per cent of practitioners in partner provider settings work towards their qualification, around 5 per cent in local authority settings work towards their qualification). In other words, staff in private and third sector settings are more often still in training which is conistent with the siginifcantly lower median age figures.