I’m so worried about nursery staffing levels that I’ve delayed sending my son
It feels like yesterday that I dropped my eldest son off for his first day at nursery in 2019, tears streaming down his face as I handed him over to a relative stranger.
I needed a couple of dedicated days to work as a freelance writer, so I decided to place my trust in the local nursery. I found it more worrying than I thought I would as we started the settling in period, but I took faith in the fact that England’s current child ratio laws and safeguarding protocols would ensure he was cared for properly.
The law currently states that in England one nursery worker looks after no more than four two-year-olds, and that a single childminder cares for no more than three children under the age of five. They should also care for no more than three children under the age of two, depending on the qualification of the staff member.
For context, ratio numbers ensure that children in nurseries or childcare settings receive good-quality care and that their safety isn’t compromised. This also is likely to reduce the risk of accidents while ensuring children receive the one-to-one attention they require to develop and have their emotional needs met.
Fast forward to today, however, and these parameters of protection are being threatened by the Conservative Government’s proposals to reduce staff-child ratios in early years settings. Spearheaded by the likes of former children’s minister Will Quince, these plans would seek to increase childcare ratios for two-year-olds from 1:4 to 1:5.
This news came just weeks before my one-year-old son was due to follow in his brother’s footsteps at the same nursery. I was worried that those pillars of safety I had relied upon for reassurance were being threatened.
During my eldest son’s time at nursery which spanned three years in total, I saw first-hand how much was being asked of the staff, how busy the setting was, and how important it was for there to be consistency of care for the children.
What also concerned me was the nursery’s reliance upon bank staff who were called upon when a regular keyworker was sick or had left. While usually caring and kind, they never had the chance to form an emotional bond with the children and it often caused an inconsistency of care.
My own son often found this unsettling but sadly it started to happen more and more as staff left to go to higher paying jobs and become private nannies or teachers where they felt more valued.
I asked some of the nursery staff what they thought about a possible change in ratio numbers and if they thought it would help. None of them thought it was a good idea and my son’s key worker said that it would put them under even more pressure and negatively impact the children in their care.
A small part of me was also hoping that with Boris Johnson’s departure, a new leader would have had a change of heart. But when former Prime Minister Liz Truss took over and didn’t want to simply tweak rules around ratio numbers, but was rather considering abolishing them altogether, I was left dumbfounded.
This would leave nurseries free to decide how many staff members they need to look after their children.
My son is nearly 15 months old and still at home with me. He was due to start nursery in January 2023 but given that the future for nurseries is still so uncertain, I’ve now found a local childminder instead. She can’t take him for as many hours as the nursery, but I feel better about it as an option for now.
She only takes on a couple of children at a time and has assured me it will stay this way no matter what decision our government makes. It’s also less expensive and costs around £60 a day, rather than the nursery’s standard day rate of £98. When my son gets older though, I will need more childcare hours so we’re postponing our current nursery place rather than cancelling it completely.
I have tried to look at this critical situation from a less emotional and more economical viewpoint – which is surely where cold-hearted politicians like Liz Truss are coming from. But when research suggests that changing ratio numbers wouldn’t make childcare more affordable, even that makes no sense.
Meanwhile, an official government e-petition that opposed the relaxation of staff-child ratios in early years settings in England gathered over 100,000 signatures.
To bring the matter starkly to home, this petition was created by parents Zoe and Lewis Steeper whose son Oliver died after choking on food in a nursery.
When I saw how many parents had signed this petition, I felt validated that I wasn’t alone in my fears but also incredibly sad for Zoe and Lewis. Choking is one of many parents’ biggest fears, including my own and many of my friends, so I can only imagine the pain this has caused them. Their story demonstrates how quickly accidents can happen with babies and small children, and how vital it is that they receive constant, high-quality care.
Raising a future generation shouldn’t feel this difficult and protecting our children from a reckless government who are willing to play around with their safety shouldn’t even be a factor.
But sadly, Rishi Sunak seems firm on changing ratios. Speaking in Parliament, he said with a wide smile on his face, that he was pleased to announce ‘ambitious new plans to improve the cost, the choice and availability of childcare’.
His plans, which he believes will benefit hundreds of thousands of parents across the country, will include measures to increase the number of children that can be looked after by each staff member in nurseries. It will also be easier for people to become childminders.
His words left a pit in my stomach. Recently, the petition created by Oliver Steeper’s parents was debated in Parliament, and I hoped that the feelings of parents and nursery staff would finally be heard.
Sadly, Oliver’s parents expressed ‘we are disappointed in the Government’s non-committal response and we now eagerly await the publication of the results of the consultation regarding ratios.
‘It is clear that the Government have yet to produce credible evidence that a change in childcare ratios would be safe and beneficial to the development and wellbeing of children in England.’
They also voiced their dismay at the government’s refusal to take into account ‘the mental health of the workforce in suggesting changing ratios to 1:5 for over two year olds.’
Endangering children as a cost-cutting exercise should not be accepted by anyone, least of all our Prime Minister. As Zoe and Lewis Steeper put it, ‘Quality of care, education and wellbeing of children must be forefront.’
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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