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On 30/08/12 11:32, paul sutton wrote: > On 30/08/12 11:14, Gordon Henderson wrote: >> On Thu, 30 Aug 2012, paul sutton wrote: >> >>> ICT post with Dartmoor National park authority, may be of interest >>> >>> http://www.devonjobs.gov.uk/it-dartmoor-national-park-authority-ict-officer-technical/35682.job >>> >> Ye gods. Look at the salary: £16,440 - £19,621 >> >> For a technical post; Screw that! >> >> Gordon >> >> > Yeah, but low salaries due to illiterate employers are common in the > south west, > > I saw a post the other day expecting level 2 childcare learning and > development and AGAIN paying just above the minimum wage, And > employers wonder why they can't get staff with the right skills. > > > Paul > OK - as someone who works in EY childcare I can answer that - totally off topic! Government specifies that councils must provide 15 hours per week of free childcare for every child over 38 weeks. Government also specifies the amount of money councils spend on childcare. In the case of DCC, the council pay £3.62 per hour per child for parents' free entitlement. This has been frozen for 3 years. Government also specifies the ratios (Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage) of staff to children (currently 1:8 for 3 year olds and 1:4 for 2 year olds). The welfare requirements really mean that you need a minimum of 4 staff even with about 15 to 24 children in a "session" otherwise the quality of provision suffers dramatically. These requirements are enforced by Ofsted. In terms of pay, the industry standard in Devon is to pay level 2 Early Years / Childcare or unqualified at national minimum wage only and level 3 at around £6.90 / hour. As a PhD qualified senior manager I can afford to pay myself 99p above national minimum wage!!! At those rates we just about survive using fund-raising to top up our income. I think anyone offering anything above national minimum wage for level 2 is actually being quite generous. Most of the commercial nurseries only employ apprentices as the lower paid staff (for whom the national minimum wage is only £2.60/hour) and then sack them when they qualify - but then they need to turn a profit, which as a charity we don't. In addition when we have SEN children, or children with a Protection Plan/Order, we have to swallow a significant amount of extra work for which there is little or no funding. As a result, most of the managers end up working about double the hours they are paid for. So, my effective hourly rate is probably about £4/hour. We also often have to employ 1:1 SEN workers for whom we get 33% of the cost. And - ultimately - yes, you are absolutely right, it is an appalling wage; but the blame lies with Government, and DCC who are attempting to meet the statutory sufficiency of places at minimum cost. All this to meet government targets to get more parents into work and reduce the bill for Working Tax Credit. It is not the fault of the employers, who are squeezed between fixed income, fixed staffing numbers, escalating national minimum wage, and fixed overheads. We have also had the introduction of single offer point for primary school entry which has dropped revenue by about £17k pa (and we were already only just above "break even"), and there will soon be a further requirement that all staff "in-ratio" be qualified level 3 or above. Me - I still do this because I believe that we can have a positive influence on the lives of children and families (especially disadvantaged), and that is ultimately more important than money - but a living wage would be nice! As the final salt in the wound, central government is currently undertaking a consultation on how the cost of childcare can be reduced still further. This may result in the ratios being relaxed in order that even less money can be spent, which is hardly going to make the quality for children better, and may result in safeguarding issues. Phil -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq