Pre-Budget Statement 2020
THE LOW PAY CRISIS
There is a low pay crisis in Ireland’s Early Childhood Education and Care sector. POBAL’s ‘Early Years Sector
Profile Report 2017/2018’ reported that Early Years Assistants earn on average just €11.18 per hour, (€1.12) below the Living Wage. Furthermore, 43% of honours degree graduates in the sector earn below the Living Wage on an annual basis1 .
Predictably, this has resulted in a staff turnover rate of 25%.
Poor pay and conditions are forcing educators to live in poverty. However, they are also detrimental to quality for children and sustainability for providers.
Evidence clearly shows that high-quality Early Childhood Education and Care has benefits for children in terms of their cognitive and social development, improving school readiness and life outcomes[2] . The impact is even greater for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
The quality is largely dependent on the interactions between educators and children. Research has consistently shown that a high turnover of staff undermines the delivery of a highquality service[3] .
High staff turnover rates are also impacting on providers. 86% of services reported that they were concerned that problems recruiting and retaining staff will impact on the viability of their service4 .
The cause of the crisis is twofold.
Firstly, government is significantly underspending on Early Childhood Education and Care. The Republic of Ireland (ROI) spends just 0.3% of GNI* compared to an EU average of 0.7% and well below the UNICEF 1% GDP target. This has resulted in it having the second highest childcare fees in the EU while simultaneously being among one of the lowest paid sectors in Ireland5 .
Secondly, there is currently no national pay agreement for the Early Childhood Education and Care sector.
Progress to date
The publication of ‘First 5: A Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children’ is a welcome development. SIPTU supports the commitment to the development of a graduate led sector and a doubling of government investment. SIPTU welcomed the support by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs for a Sectoral Employment Order. This is a key industrial relations framework that will facilitate increased investment in pay and conditions. As SIPTU will be in a position to apply for a Sectoral Employment Order in early 2020, the union is calling on government to allocate funding to improve pay and conditions in the upcoming budget.
Recommendations
To address the low pay crisis, SIPTU is calling for:
As a first step to phasing in the Mercer6 pay scale, an allocation of €32 million to raise pay. This would have the capacity to bring all employees up to the Living Wage level.
The establishment of minimum pay and conditions by means of a Sectoral Employment Order with the active engagement of government
The development of a radically reformed funding model for Early Childhood Education and Care with the aim of transforming the sector from a market-led to a service-led model.
An increase Early Years Education and Care from the current 0.3% of GNI* spending to the EU average over a 5-year period. Spending should increase to 1% of GNI* by 2027.
