A new pay agreement to provide pay increases and a wage structure for early learning and childcare workers has been approved by the Government.
The Employment Regulation Orders, which will begin on September 15th, will provide new minimum hourly rates of pay for various roles in the early years’ services sector, ranging from € 13 an hour for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners to €17.25-an-hour for graduate managers. It is estimated that 73% of those working in the sector will see their wages rise as a result of the new Employment Regulation Orders.
Recruitment in childcare
An analysis of Jobs.ie data shows demand for Childcare professionals is increasing, with jobs advertised in the sector up 9% compared to the first three months of the year. However, the number of jobs advertised in Childcare has yet to return to PreCovid levels, with the number of jobs advertised 46% lower than in the same period in 2019.
The agreement was approved by Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail Damien English, who said “ The proposals submitted to me will apply to some 27,000 staff and are a welcome acknowledgement of the importance of the work carried out by everyone working in the early learning and childcare sector,” he added.
SIPTU, which has 6,000 members in the early childcare and education sector, welcomed the pay agreement. “Low pay has caused a staffing crisis in early years as services struggle to recruit and retain staff,” said SIPTU Head of Organising Darragh O’Connor. “This pay deal, and future pay increases, mean that early years professionals can plan to stay in their chosen profession in the long term,” he added.
Childhood Services Ireland (CSI), the Ibec group that represents the childcare sector in Ireland, said the new pay agreement would help improve staff retention and quality but cautioned that it would be unsustainable for many childcare providers without ambitious support from the Government’s Core Funding Scheme. “With increasing inflationary pressures and a freeze on parental fees, childcare services will struggle to sustain higher wages and will be forced to close their doors without significant Government investment,” said CSI Director Darragh Whelan.
