The country’s most popular apprenticeship standard is set to get a funding band boost.
Funding for the level 3 early years educator apprenticeship will move up from £6,000 to £7,000 from April 2024.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency announced the decision yesterday to support the early years workforce amid the government’s childcare reforms announced by the chancellor in the spring 2023 budget, such as 30 hours a week of free childcare for eligible working parents of children aged nine months up to three years in England.
Fewer than one in five nursery managers surveyed last year by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition said they could offer the extended free hours entitlement because of the recruitment crisis, with more than half of nursery staff considering quitting in the next year.
Department for Education data for 2022 shows 334,000 early years workers, down 10,000 (3 per cent) from the peak in 2019. Childminder numbers have fallen by one-fifth since 2019.
