Nurseries putting children in care of apprentices amid staff shortages

Apprentices are being asked to plug staffing shortages at nurseries, leaving them alone with children in roles that should be supervised, The i Paper has been told.

Early years unions said that trainees are missing out on key safeguarding and education training because they are being told to cover shifts when they should be given time to complete coursework.

Ofsted, the education regulator, is concerned about apprentices filling in for staff while unions for the sector warned that children’s safety may be at risk if they are being looked after by unqualified staff, with parents typically unaware of the issue.

One former apprentice told The i Paper she was left unsupervised with 14 children, one of whom choked on a toy as she struggled to manage the situation.

In September, working parents of children aged nine months to four years will be eligible for 30 hours of Government-funded childcare, up from 15 hours a week.

When it announced this expansion, the Government said around 70,000 additional places and 35,000 early years staff would be needed. But nursery leaders have warned that hikes to employer national insurance contributions and the minimum wage introduced in Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget has added tens of thousands of pounds onto their costs – and left them unable to recruit.

Letitia McCalla, regional organiser at the Community Trade Union, which represents early years workers, said one of the ways providers can deliver the hours more cheaply is to hire apprentices.

Apprentices should not be counted within the required ratios of staff to children if they do not have qualified staff with them, but they are often left by themselves, she said. This issue has “got even worse” ahead of the childcare expansion.

“We’re seeing more of our qualified staff leave the sector because they feel that it’s demanding work or they’re not being paid enough for the work that they’re doing – most of them are on minimum wage – which means more apprentices are having to come in,” McCalla said.

‘Quality of care impacted’

Hayley Doyle, a nursery assistant and representative for the GMB Union, said she has heard “horror stories” from current and former apprentices that they have been left alone with groups of children – including more than is allowed for staff – and “expected to do jobs that they are not qualified for”.

“What if you have two children and one of them fell and bumped their head, or if one of them needed the toilet?” she said.

“You’d have to take both children with you. It’s all about safeguarding at the end of the day, as well as having a witness, which you do need in this day and age.”

One 19-year-old apprentice, Megan, who spoke using a pseudonym, said she was repeatedly left to look after children on her own at a nursery in Leeds.

On her very first day at the nursery earlier this year she was told to look after 14 children, two of whom had special educational needs, while staff were on a lunch break.

She was left alone in a room with the same children, aged three and four, for a second time a few weeks later, when a boy in the class vomited. It emerged that he had swallowed a toy – a counting gem – while she was tending to another child. The gem he had been choking on came out with his vomit.

Megan was not first aid trained. She said: “I don’t think the situation would have happened if there was another staff member in the room, because they’d have known exactly what to do.

“I was still new, and I wasn’t first aid trained, so I didn’t know what to do.”

McCalla also warned the issue may be impacting the quality of childcare provision, lead to health and safety issues, and could mean that a child’s special educational needs may be missed.

‘Training not being completed’

Liam Thompson, an early years consultant and former nursery manager who is campaigning to improve working conditions, claimed to have helped 300 apprentices who were not given time to complete their off-the-job training, which they are legally entitled to, because they were taking on staff responsibilities.

“They don’t know how to interact with children, they don’t know how to educate children, they have no idea what they’re doing,” he said.

“It’s going to impact the future, because children are going to school less prepared.”

He said it was “dangerous” that apprentices are not learning basic safeguarding information. This includes how to spot the signs of abuse in children and report it, as well as how to report concerns about a staff member hurting a child.

Mr Thompson said some apprentices struggle to complete their coursework if they do not get the allotted time at work and end up missing out on key information.

Regulator raises ‘concerns’

Ofsted, the education regulator, said the “vast majority” of nurseries in England are safe and of high quality but “ongoing workforce challenges are having a significant impact across the sector”.

A spokesperson said: “Ofsted has raised concerns before that in some providers, workforce challenges and financial pressures lead to apprentices being used as key staff to make up ratios and that many settings are so reliant on apprentices that they do not always release them for college.

“Using apprentices to fill staffing gaps or make up ratios may seem like a short-term fix, but it cannot be a long-term solution.”

Ofsted said it carries out routine inspections of early years providers every six years, but brings forward inspections where significant concerns are raised.

The Government said it is introducing a wide range of strengthened safeguarding measures from September, including enhanced recruitment practices to further prevent unsuitable individuals from working with children.

A Department for Education spokesperson added: “Providers have a legal duty to allow apprentices the appropriate hours to train and any concerns that they are not adhering to the staff:child ratio requirements should be reported to local authorities and Ofsted for investigation.”

The Early Years Alliance, a trade body for nurseries, was approached for comment.