DfE to trial £1,000 sign-on bonus for early-years workers
The Department for Education has announced it will be trialling a £1,000 cash sign-on bonus incentive to get more people working in nurseries and early years providers.
This is alongside a new national recruitment campaign across TV, cinema, online, radio and advertising, to encourage more people to work in nurseries and early years providers.
The “Do Something Big” recruitment campaign aims to encourage people to start a career working with small children to ensure providers are in the best position to deliver the places parents need from April, September this year and next.
The campaign will look to boost recruitment across the sector by highlighting the vast array of childcare career routes and progression opportunities offering on-the-job training, flexible hours, and, most importantly, the chance to shape and support young lives.
Alongside this, the Department for Education is trialling a £1,000 cash sign-on bonus incentive. Covering 20 local authorities across the UK, the trial will give new-starters and returners a tax-free cash payment shortly after they take up post.
The government has also taken steps to provide greater funding certainty to nurseries and childcare providers. Each year, the government sets out funding rates in the autumn, to take effect in the following financial year. A window - likely to be 8 weeks - will be introduced, within which local authorities have to confirm rates, after the point the Department announces local authority rates. We will work with the sector in the coming weeks to finalise the approach.
The government has also made clear to all local authorities that they should confirm local funding rates that come into force from 01 April no later than the end of February.
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