2867. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures she is taking to improve career progression and remuneration for graduate qualified early learning and childcare educators in order to support recruitment, retention and the delivery of high quality early learning and childcare services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60506/26]

Pay is one of a number of challenges 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.

Although the Government is the primary funder of the sector, it is not the employer and cannot directly set wages or conditions for any staff in the sector.

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, and is independent in its functions.

Since September 2022 when the first Employment Regulation Order was enacted, the minimum hourly rate of pay for Graduate Lead Educators has increased by 13% to €17.50 per hour and for Graduate Managers by 15% to €20.25 per hour.

The government has ringfenced up to €45 million in Core Funding for Programme Year 2025/2026 to support employers to meet the costs of increasing rates of pay due to new EROs. This is distributed to providers through the Staff Funding Additional Contribution (SFAC) grant.

For programme Year 5, September 2026/2027, an additional funding allocation, up to €45 million has been secured to support providers in meeting the costs of possible further increases in wages which may be negotiated by the independent Joint Labour Committee. The Graduate Lead Educator Premium, which pays out a rate of €4.44 per graduate-led hour, supports the employment of graduate staff. The premium is paid for every hour that an Early Learning and Care (ELC) or combined ELC/School Age Childcare (SAC) session is led by a graduate Lead Educator.

I recognises that supporting the workforce is essential to ensuring quality in early learning and childcare. This funding will help to make further progress on improving pay while maintaining the strong partnership between the State and providers.

A longer-term workforce strategy for the sector is in place: "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028". Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector.

One of the five "pillars" of Nurturing Skills comprises commitments aimed at supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce, and it includes actions to raise the profile of careers in the sector.

In December 2023, a Sub-Group of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum was established to address recruitment and retention challenges. The group has advanced initiatives including:

• A Student Fast-track Process for recognition of studies to work in service out of term,

• The assessment of unfinished qualifications, where people who may have started a relevant qualification but did not get to finish it, can have what they completed assessed for meeting qualification requirements

• An agreement to promote careers in the sector

Another action from the plan currently under development is a communications campaign which will include a series of videos and information packs aimed at promoting the Early Learning and Care and School-age Childcare profession.

The packs will be provided to career guidance counsellors and other key bodies who support individuals in making education and employment decisions, with the aim of raising awareness of career opportunities and pathways within Early Learning and Care and School-age Childcare sector.

The Department acknowledges the challenges faced by staff in relation to stress and well-being, with administrative burden often cited as a key factor to those pressures. To help support the welfare and wellness of the sector, a pilot employee assistance programme is operating in five CCC areas. This pilot project is an action under Equal Start: A model to support access and participation in early learning and childcare for all children. Following evaluation of the pilot the EAP will be expanded across the sector.

To further support staff retention and increase the number of degree level graduates in the sector, the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund was established to enable educators who continue to work within the sector to pursue Level 7 and 8 qualifications in support of the First 5 and subsequently Nurturing Skills objective of a 'graduate led' Early Learning and Care workforce.

The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund assists in the financial costs for early years educators who wish to pursue Early Learning and Care qualifications approved by the Qualifications Advisory Board at level 7 and level 8 while continuing to work in the sector, in a core funded service.

Nurturing Skills Learner Fund pays up to 90% of Course Fees excluding student levies. Over 550 Early Years Educators have been offered financial support to upskill to Level 7 and Level 8 Early Learning and Care Qualifications for the Academic Year 2026/2027 beginning in Autumn 2026.

Since its inception in 2024 Nurturing Skills Learner Fund have offered financial support to over 1250 Educators.

The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund demonstrates how Government is already delivering on our Programme for Government commitment to ‘remove barriers in education and training for early years educators to broaden access to the profession.

Aligned to the Programme for Government commitment to introduce an ‘Earn and Learn’ apprenticeship model enabling staff in this sector to gain qualifications and advance their careers, Pillar 4 of Nurturing Skills includes an action to examine the development of a range of entry routes into the sector, including apprenticeships or other work-based learning, and access programmes in further education and higher education. Research on alternative entry routes was received recently.

The Department is reviewing the research, with a view to using it to inform next steps. While Nurturing Skills commits to examine alternative entry-routes, the development of an apprenticeship would rely on the formulation of proposals by the sector and would require approval by the National Apprenticeship Office.