Remember Thursday nights, and the applause for key workers on doorsteps? During the pandemic, people working in demanding, public-facing jobs were rightly and warmly acclaimed. That was then. These days, staff shortages are causing problems across public services, above all in careers demanding high levels of personal interaction, including teaching, prisons and probation.
Early years is the latest sector to declare that a lack of staff threatens its capacity to meet families’ needs. According to research by the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, just 17% of nursery managers believe they will be able to offer the “free hours” promised by ministers from next year. About 10,000 people in England have left jobs in nurseries or as childminders since 2019, representing a 3% fall.
Availability is particularly low in places where poorer people live. Nearly a third of not-for-profit nurseries in these areas closed down or were privatised between 2018 and 2022. With around two-thirds of all places now privately run (including many that are publicly funded), there are warnings that nurseries risk becoming a “playground for private equity”. The track record of such owners in care homes and elsewhere makes this highly undesirable. In particular, experts are concerned about children with special educational needs, and ownership and governance structures that lack transparency.
The low pay and status of childcare work, the vast majority of which is done by women, has long been recognised as unfair given the responsibilities involved. For childminders who work from home, rising energy and other costs pose particular difficulties. But the departure of many older and experienced workers can also be seen as part of a wider labour-market problem.
Years of public-sector pay freezes followed by below-inflation rises are part of the reason. Junior doctors were in talks with ministers last month, but their dispute remains unresolved. Teachers accepted a 6.5% rise in the summer but recruitment difficulties continue, with half of this year’s secondary trainee places unfilled. Another factor is job cuts during the austerity years that led many senior workers to quit, leaving new recruits without suitable mentors and teams without experienced members. In prisons, policing and social work, it is increasingly recognised that the loss of institutional memory and knowhow causes lasting harm.
The pandemic raised hopes that the emotional and physical toll of public-facing roles would gain broader recognition. But Covid’s legacy has been harsh. With hybrid, flexible and online working the new normal for many workers, those in frontline jobs are more than ever conscious of the risks and demands – including antisocial hours and physical contact with others – that their work involves. The Institute for Government has warned that some services could become stuck in a “doom loop”, with the public increasingly frustrated by inadequate provision – and people increasingly unwilling to work in such conditions.
Some creative solutions to these interlinked problems have been proposed. Labour is looking at forgiving the student debt of newly qualified NHS doctors and nurses. New visas for care workers were due to be followed by workplace reforms – though worryingly these have been delayed. Childcare needs a national strategy and improved regulation. More generally, there is an urgent need to appreciate the value of frontline workers whose demanding jobs involve meeting human needs.