Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 November 2025
552. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures being taken to address recruitment and retention challenges in the early learning and care sector; if her Department plans to introduce additional supports to improve pay, conditions and career pathways for educators; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65056/25]
View answerI acknowledge many early learning and childcare services report recruitment and retention challenges. In general, these challenges are not caused by insufficient supply of qualified staff, but by high levels of turnover.
Data from the 2024 Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey shows the national turnover rate for the sector was approximately 25.8% with 28% of the turnover rate due to staff moving from one provider to another.
Improvement in pay is certainly key to improving recruitment and retention rates, as is the full implementation of Nurturing Skills.
Pay is one of a number of issues impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. The level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy.
Staff turnover is linked to pay and working conditions. However, the State is not an employer of staff and neither I, nor the Department, set pay or working conditions.
The Joint Labour Committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in Employment Regulation Orders.
Outcomes from the Joint Labour Committee process are supported by Government through Core Funding. In this programme year 2025/26 Core Funding has increased by 6% to €350 million with an additional €45 million in ring-fenced Core Funding provided to support early learning and care services in meeting the increased cost of minimum pay rates in the sector.
As recently announced, the Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail Alan Dillon has signed new Employment Regulation Orders for Early Years Educators and School-Age Practitioners.
The Orders commenced on 13th October 2025. They provide for an average of 10% increase to minimum hourly rates of pay. It is estimated that 67% of those working in the sector will see their wages increase as a result of the new minimum pay rates.
The Government remains committed to ‘continue to implement Employment Regulation Orders to attract and retain early years educators’ and to making available a similar sum in 2026 to support a further future round of pay improvements negotiations through the JLC process.
Staff in this sector play a key role in supporting children’s development and well-being. Recognising their central importance for the quality of provision, the Department continues to deliver on the workforce plan for the sector, Nurturing Skills.
Nurturing Skills aims to support the professional development of the workforce and sets out plans to raise the profile of careers in the sector, establish role profiles, career pathways, qualification requirements, along with leadership development opportunities.
To support the development of career pathways, the role profiles of educator, lead educator and manager, which were set out in Nurturing Skills, were given legal meaning when used as the basis for the Employment Regulations Orders for the sector. These Orders now embed a career structure by setting different rates of pay for the different roles.
Since its inception in 2024 the pilot NSLF scheme has been in a position to offer financial support to over 700 applicants.
