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\nContents  \nIntroduction 3 Key findings and recommendations 4 Policy context 7 Workforce size 8 Staff retention 12 Qualification levels 13 Staff pay 14 Working hours and conditions 16 General wellbeing 19 Conclusions and recommendations 20 References 22  \nThe Nuffield Foundation is an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social well-being. It funds and undertakes rigorous research, encourages innovation and supports the use of sound evidence to inform social and economic policy, and improve people’s lives. The Nuffield Foundation is the founder and co-funder of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Ada Lovelace Institute and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory. This project has been funded by the Nuffield Foundation, but the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily the [Foundation. Find out more at: nuffieldfoundation.org](Foundation. Find out more at: nuffieldfoundation.org).  \n[Bluesky: @nuffieldfoundation.org](Bluesky: @nuffieldfoundation.org)  \nLinkedIn: Nuffield Foundation  \nAcknowledgements  \nWe are grateful to Sarah Tang and Juan Manuel Del Pozo Segura for the analysis they did for this project, to Michael Scott for his project management and to Jude Hillary and Maddie Wheeler for their helpful comments on early drafts. We would also like to thank Sara Bonetti and representatives from the Early Years Alliance, the Early Education and Childcare Coalition and the Department for Education for their thoughtful insights and feedback on this report.  \nSome of this work was undertaken in the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Secure Research Service (SRS) using data from ONS and other owners and does not imply the endorsement of the ONS or other data owners.  \nPage 3  \nIntroduction  \nThe latest survey data suggests that early years staff numbers may have plateaued in 2025 after previous strong growth. This may indicate that workforce pressures are constraining the sector from making available the additional childcare places required to deliver the expanded entitlement. The relative attractiveness of the early years sector to higher qualified staff is also of particular concern, with low relative pay and limited opportunities for career progression being key factors that may mean the early years sector offers little long-term incentive for gaining higher qualifications.  \nThe aim of the National Foundation for Educational Research’s (NFER) annual series of reports on the education workforce, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, is to monitor progress towards meeting workforce supply challenges. This report summarisesthe latest research and key trends in early years staff numbers, recruitment, retention, pay and working conditions and points towards policy actions that are likely to have the greatest impact on addressing the challenges.  \nWe use Department for Education (DfE) data from the Survey of Childcare and Early Years Providers (SCEYP) on national and regional staff numbers, recruitment, turnover and qualification levels. Note that we do not include Reception teachers within the definition of the early years workforce due to the clear divide with early years in terms of their employment context. Trends in recruitment and retention are driven by changes in the competitiveness of pay and working conditions, compared to other jobs. We therefore also analyse trends in pay and working conditions, primarily using findings from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Population Survey (APS) .  \nHousehold surveys enable us to compare the pay and working conditions in early years to staff working in other occupations, so we use the LFS and APS to compare to staff with similar age, gender, qualification level and region profiles, as well as similar working patterns. Some of the most common occupations in this‘similar workers’ group include care wor","cbCaigZlQA54E0bz","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigZlQA54E0bz","pdf",2616525,24,"English","# Introduction\n## Aim and evidence base\n# Key findings and recommendations\n## Workforce plateau and potential shortfall\n## Regional variation in staffing pressures","[{\"question\":\"What does the report indicate about early years staff numbers in 2025?\",\"answer\":\"Latest survey data suggests early years staff numbers may have plateaued in 2025 after previous growth, implying constraints on expanding childcare places.\"},{\"question\":\"How large is the estimated workforce increase needed for the expanded childcare entitlement?\",\"answer\":\"The Department for Education estimated the workforce needed to increase by 35,000 staff between December 2023 and September 2025.\"},{\"question\":\"Which regions are highlighted as potentially worst affected by staffing shortfalls?\",\"answer\":\"The report points to the South West, West Midlands and North East as showing the most significant gaps between expected and estimated workforce growth.\"}]","The Early Years Workforce in England Annual Report 2026 | PDF",1792057335]