Should Nursery Ratios be Increased?
Increasing nursery ratios would be a ‘disaster’.
This is the opinion shared by many childcare providers and parents, but would it really be that disastrous?
In this article we will discuss why an increase in ratios is being proposed and some of the benefits and negatives of increasing the nursery ratios.
Why are there plans to increase nursery staff ratios?
Many parents feel that nursery fees are too high, with 43% of working mothers saying that they were considering leaving their jobs because of high childcare fees.
Despite this many nurseries are struggling to stay open due to increased rents, increased bills and increased wages.
Coupling this with the current cost of living crisis, affecting both parents and childcare providers. Something needs to be done to make childcare more affordable.
One solution that has been proposed by government has been either to increase staffing ratios or to scrap ratios all together.
It is believed that an increase is in ratios, will help reduce one of the main costs involved with running a nursery – the cost of staff.
The less staff nurseries need, the less their wage bill will be, the less nurseries will need to charge.
Simple right?
But, is this a good idea and will this work?
We will discuss this in this article.
What are the current ratios?
Currently in England, Wales and NI nurseries follow the same ratio.
The ratio and qualification conditions below apply to the total number of staff available to work directly with children in early years settings (other than childminders).
- Children aged under 2 – require one member of staff for every 3 children (1:3)
- Children aged 2 to 3 years old – require one member of staff for every 4 children (1:4)
- Children aged 3 to 5 years old – require one member of staff for every 8 children (1:8). In England this ratio can increase to 1:13 if certain conditions are met.
You can instantly work-out nursery ratios using this free nursery ratio calculator (great if you currently work or run a nursery setting).
Childminder ratios:
- England: a maximum of three may be under 5 and one under one.
- Wales: a maximum of three may be under 5 and two under one.
- Scotland: a maximum of three may be under 5 and one under one.
- Northern Ireland: a maximum of three may be under 5 and one under one.
Please note that there are some exceptions to these rules. Which you can find out more by clicking here.
Ratios for 2-year-olds in other European Countries:
Netherlands | France | Ireland | Denmark | Germany | Sweden |
1:6 | 1:8 or 1:12 | 1:6 or 1:11 | None | None | None |
Source: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/childcare-ratios-in-england/
The plans by the government are to:
- change the current statutory minimum staff: child ratios in England for 2-year-olds from 1:4 to 1:5
- allow childminders to care for a fourth child under the age of five, providing one is either a sibling of another child they care for, or their own child, whilst continuing to only allow childminders to care for a maximum of six children under the age of eight
- make the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework (EYFS) explicit that ‘adequate supervision’ while children are eating means that children must be in sight and hearing of an adult
Benefits of nursery ratios being increased
1. Increased ratios drive down the costs for nurseries.
Higher ratios will lead to less staff needed, therefore a greater saving.
It has been worked out, that if every setting who currently works to a 1:4 ratio changed to 1:5, this would reduce costs meaning that they could charge less fees.
The government has worked out that this saving would reduce fees by up to 15%, which works out at an average of £40 per week for families.
2. Increased ratios work in other countries.
In Scotland they use 1:5 ratio, and other countries work to a higher ratio. Which works for them. So, a similar system should be able to work here.
3. An increased ratio just adds flexibility
By increasing ratios, it doesn’t mandate nurseries to work to them. It would still be down to the nursery to decide how many staff they need based on the children they have.
It will just give them the option, which will not only help with costs but also with staffing needs.
4. Would help to cover instances of staff shortages.
Nurseries are already struggling with staffing issues either due to illnesses, holidays or recruitment issues.
This could help.
It would help with instances where you may have just one extra child but would need a whole extra staff member e.g., 20 two-year-olds now would require 5 members of staff. Whereas, getting just one more child would require another member of staff. When potentially the 5 members of staff could cope with 21.
5. More choice for the provider
Many nurseries want less intervention from government in childcare, this could be a step towards that.
Different nurseries have different environments and children; therefore, it should be up to each setting to work out what their needs are in terms of staffing.
Also, having set ratios has led to providers simply working to those ratios and not focusing on the needs of the children at their current setting. Some may have 1:4 ratio when the needs of their children may require a smaller ratio. Greater flexibility on ratios will remove this fixed thinking.
Settings are currently being punished and are breaking the law if they are out of ratio, which adds pressure to all those involved. For example, staff are coerced by managers to still attend work even if they are unwell as not doing so will leave the nursery out of ratio.
Negatives of nursery ratios being increased
1. The belief that just increasing ratios will save money is flawed.
Nurseries will not just instantly start using the 1:5 ratio because they can. The needs of every nursery are different. Some children have higher needs and require more supervision. Without support for these children working at a higher ratio would not be possible.
Even now only 51 per cent of nursery providers (offering places to two-year-olds) work to maximum ratios all the time, meaning that around half already have scope to work to more relaxed ratios more often than they do, but choose not to.
Therefore, by just increasing ratios will not lead to the mentioned saving of £40 per week.
2. You can’t compare systems.
Some countries do work to higher ratios which works. However, every country’s childcare set-up is different. For example, in some countries a teacher’s degree is needed to work in childcare.
Even in Scotland, who follow a similar system but have 1:5 ratios, are better supported financially for example by not having to pay business rates.
3. Safeguarding and Safety Issues
This is the main issue.
Increasing ratios is likely to greatly increase safeguarding concerns and sacrifice safety in settings.
Low child-to-adult ratios and small group sizes help ensure that children get enough one-on-one attention from an adult who is available to take care of each child’s unique needs.
Low ratios are extremely important to children’s social and emotional development, physical well-being, and overall learning.
Increasing ratios is likely to negatively impact all of this.
A petition against the proposals on the Parliament website started by Zoe and Lewis Steeper, whose son Oliver died in September, days after he was believed to have choked at nursery, has so far received over 100,000 signatures.
4. Increased pressure and stress on staff
Now, increasing ratios appears great from a financial point of view.
But who is going to look after these extra children? The role of a childcare worker is already stressful enough so adding more children will just increase this.
Which may actually lead to staff deciding to leave the childcare field altogether. The impact on staff does not seem to have been considered.
The statements are all about reducing childcare costs, however, childcare workers are notoriously underpaid in comparison to other professions.
Yet, none of these proposals has even considered the potential to increase staff wages.
Adding extra pressure on to staff without increasing wages would not make them feel valued, and could cause further recruitment issues.
5. Reduced quality of childcare
This could lead to a race to the bottom in terms of quality childcare.
Childcare providers who are heavily focused on finances would use this to essentially squeeze every penny out of their provision.
If this happens it could lead to a reduction in the quality of childcare that is provided.
Yes, it could lead to reduced costs, but at what cost?
‘Good’ providers may be forced to match the cost saving tactics of other providers in order to remain competitive on price. Which would then affect the people at the heart of childcare – the children.
Conclusion
Overall, there is a feeling that increased ratio may work, but not as a cost saving exercise.
It should purely be based on the needs of the setting. Even now with the ratios being 1:4 almost half of all nurseries do not work to this maximum.
Framing it as a way to save parents money and not as a way to add greater flexibility to settings is dangerous.
As it can lead to nurseries and owners putting greater pressure on their staff to work in higher ratios in order to increase profits.
There is a general feeling that nursery ratios can be increased, but that this shouldn’t be seen as THE solution and that more support needs to be given to childcare providers for any changes to be sustainable.
Other suggestions that have been suggested include:
- Paying funding to parents – then using this to reduce childcare fees rather than the government paying for a set number of hours. This is because the amount the government pay is usually less than childcare providers charge, meaning some make a loss by accepting funding.
- Removing the qualification ratio requirements – thus removing the barrier to enter the childcare field and reducing the staffing issues found. It would therefore be up to the provider to train and ensure their staff are suitable.
- More financial support given to nurseries and other childcare providers.
Overall, it would appear that the initial outrage from nurseries and parents is primarily because there has been no consultation, which by working with agencies like the Early Years Alliance the government did now have plans to do.
Though, with a new PM these talks may be pushed back or scrapped all together.
We shall wait to see what his plans will be.
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