Introduction
This section shows the number of staff working for childcare providers; levels of staff turnover; the qualifications that staff have; and characteristics of staff (their gender, ethnicity, age and hourly wage).
The number of paid early-years staff working in school-based providers fell by 1,600 (or 3 per cent) between 2021 and 2022, from 53,900 to 52,300.
The number of childminders and childminder assistants fell by 4,700 (or 12 per cent) from 38,600 to 33,900.
The number of staff employed in group-based providers, however, increased by 12,200 (or 5 per cent), from 236,000 to 248,200.
Overall, the number of paid early-year staff increased by 5,900 (or 2 per cent), from 328,500 to 334,400.
School-based providers have an average of 5 staff members. This number is higher for maintained nursery schools (17 staff) than it is for school-based providers that offer nursery (5 staff). Maintained nursery schools, however, only make up a small proportion of the overall number of school-based childcare providers.
Private group-based providers (13) have a slightly higher average number of staff than voluntary group-based providers (9).
Between 2021 and 2022, the proportion of school-based providers employing temporary staff increased from 31 per cent to 34 per cent and the proportion of group-based providers employing temporary staff increased from 27 per cent to 30 per cent.
Between 2021 and 2022, the total number of temporary staff employed by school-based and group-based providers increased by 2,500 (11 per cent), from 23,600 to 26,100.
Between 2021 and 2022, the proportion of school-based providers employing volunteer staff increased from 21 per cent to 29 per cent and the proportion of group-based providers employing volunteer staff increased from 24 per cent to 34 per cent.
Between 2021 and 2022, the total number of voluntary staff employed by school-based and group-based providers increased by 5,400 (44 per cent), from 12,300 to 17,700.
Between 2021 and 2022, the proportion of school-based providers employing apprentices increased from 11 per cent to 12 per cent. A higher proportion of group-based providers than school-based providers employ apprentices and this proportion increased further, from 40 per cent in 2021 to 49 per cent in 2022.
Between 2021 and 2022, the total number of apprentices employed by school-based and group-based providers increased by 6,000 (32 per cent), from 18,600 to 24,600. Nearly all (5,700 of the 6,000 increase) was in group-based providers.
Sixty-one per cent of apprentices in school-based providers and 65 per cent of apprentices in group-based providers are employed on Level 2 apprenticeships.
On average, providers had more staff joining than leaving in the previous 12 months.
The number of staff recruited to school-based providers was double the number leaving (8,800 joined and 4,400 left).
The number of staff recruited to group-based providers was a third more than the number leaving (58,400 joined and 43,700 left).
Staff turnover rates in 2022 were twice as high in group-based providers (18 per cent) as school-based providers (9 per cent).
Staff qualifications and experience
A similar proportion of school-based provider (82 per cent) and group-based provider staff (80 per cent) are qualified to Level 3 or above. A slightly lower proportion of childminder staff (74 per cent) are qualified to this level.
A higher proportion of school-based staff (34 per cent) are qualified to Level 6 than group-based staff (11 per cent) and childminders (10 per cent).
These figures are largely unchanged from 2018.
In school-based providers, 93 per cent of headteachers and early-years co-ordinators are qualified to Level 6 compared with 26 per cent of other staff.
In group-based providers, 35 per cent of senior managers are qualified to Level 6 compared with 9 per cent of other staff.
Seventy-four per cent of childminders are qualified to Level 3 or above compared with 36 per cent of childminder assistants.
The proportion of group-based provider staff with highest qualification at level 3 who hold the Early Years Educator qualification showed a small increase in 2022. In school-based providers, there was a small decrease.
The proportion of childminders who hold the Early Year Educator qualification saw a large increase, from 38 per cent in 2021 to 49 per cent in 2022.
Eighty-three per cent of Level-6-qualified school-based provider staff have Qualified Teacher Status compared with 25 per cent of group-based provider staff.
Conversely, a higher proportion of Level-6 qualified group-based provider staff (57 per cent) than school-based provider staff (19 per cent) have an early years degree.
The vast majority of childcare staff are female.
Around 80 per cent or more of staff are White British. This proportion is lowest in private group-based providers (79 per cent) and highest in voluntary group-based providers (89 per cent).
By comparison, in the 2021 census, 81% of people in England were reported to be White, 9.6% Asian and 4.2% Black.
There are marked differences in the age profile of staff in different settings.
Only 1 per cent of childminders are aged under 25 compared with nearly a quarter of staff in private group-based providers (23 per cent).
Forty-two per cent of childminders are aged over 50 compared with just 13 per cent of staff in private group-based providers.
The sector with the youngest age profile (private group-based providers) saw the biggest percentage increase in staff numbers between 2021 and 2022 (a 9 per cent increase, from 164,000 to 179,000).
Whereas the sectors with the oldest age profile (voluntary group-based providers and childminders) both saw the number of paid staff fall by 12 per cent.
The National Living Wage
On 1st April 2016 the government introduced a new mandatory National Living Wage. Workers aged over 23 (reduced from age 25 on 1st April 2021) receive the highest National Living Wage rate. There are lower rates for younger workers and apprentices.
In 2022, 38 per cent of childminding assistants earned below National Living Wage. In other settings, the proportion of staff earning below National Living Wage was between 13 per cent and 18 per cent.
Further information
More detailed information, including sample sizes, can be found in additional tables available in the “supporting files” section of this release. As well as the figures shown in this section, these tables show, for instance, the average number of hours that staff are contracted to work, and the average number of hours that they actually work.
Further information on the workforce can be found here (opens in a new tab).
The categorisation of a small number of less common types of group-based providers has changed between 2021 and 2022. A small group of not-for-profit providers (including social enterprises, community interest companies, and worker’s cooperatives) were previously coded as either voluntary or private providers depending on their charitable status.
- In the 2021 analysis, most of the not-for-profit providers with charitable status were recorded as voluntary providers and those without charitable status were recorded as private providers.
- In the 2022 analysis, most of these not-for-profit providers have been defined as ‘Other group-based providers’ along with Local Authorities, school/college, and other types of group-based providers that were previously defined as ‘Other’.
This means that the subcategories within group-based providers cannot be compared over time. It does not affect the total group-based providers, and it remains possible to compare the total over time.
The table below illustrates the impact of this change, with the 2021 definition and 2022 definition side by side:
| Total number of paid staff | 2021 definition | 2022 definition | % difference |
| Private group-based | Voluntary group-based | All group-based providers | Private group-based | Voluntary group-based | All group-based providers | Private group-based | Voluntary group-based |
| England | 179,525 | 59,000 | 248,184 | 178,976 | 55,979 | 248,184 | -0.3% | -5.1% |