Guest Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 Hi all I would really appreciate some advice/guidance on staff pay in pre-schools related to qualifications. We have recently given all staff a pay rise and they are now in up-roar about it as they feel it is not enough. We have taken into consideration qualifications and roles. Is anyone able to tell me what they pay staff with: Level 3 qualification Level 4 Level 5/6 - foundation degree I would really appreciate it if you could share. Our pay for staff starts at £6.50 level 3 qualification and rises to £11.78 for the manager (who doesn't have a degree qualification).
AnonyMouse_19762 Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 How is your financial situation - if possible I would expect to pay a more 'attractive' rate to your level three staff........ I would rather 'cut back' on other expenditure (again, if possible) A happy, and committed workforce is a settings biggest asset in my humble :1b 3
Guest Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 Sunnyday, Our financial situation is ok. What would you call a more 'attractive rate'? To be honest it is those that are at the ingredients end of the scale who have the most issues. Do you have experience of what the going rate for a level 3 is?
AnonyMouse_19762 Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 Hi - I'm not sure if there is a 'defined' going rate - perhaps there is - not sure...... I would be 'hoping' to pay a Level 3 somewhere between £8.50 - £9.50 depending on roles/responsibilities........that's clearly a huge 'leap' from £6.50 - so almost certainly couldn't be applied..... Let's 'hold out' for some other (probably more helpful) views! :1b
AnonyMouse_21338 Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 I suppose it also depends on their roles and responsibilities ? I'm a level 3 and the leader / manager and I get £7.25 ph...my assistants get £6.35 ph- one assistant is also L3. ( but does not have the same responsibilities as me) my other assistant is studying for L3 but as she does the same job as my other assistant she gets the same hourly rate.
Guest Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 I'm opening a new preschool and i've costed for £8.00 ph for a L3, £7.00 for L2 and £11.00 for an EYP who will also deputise for me. We all know early years is low paid, but for a L3 to get only the minimum wage (£6.50 from Oct 14) after going through 2 years of training, might be hard to swallow.....
AnonyMouse_22106 Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 Manager - Level 3 - £7.20 Deputy - NNEB - £6.90 Keyperson - Level 4 - £6.65 Keyperson - Level 3 - £6.50 Assistant - Level 3 - £6.40 Assistant - non-qualified - £6.31 All except my non-qualified have a minimum of 6 years experience just in our setting - but as you can see we have to magic some money from somewhere, and quickly!!
Guest Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) Assistant £7.09 Part Qualified Assistant £7.47 Qualified Assistant (L3) £7.84 Supervisor (L3 but supervises classroom) £9.89 Manager (EYT) £15.00 Edited March 25, 2014 by cvdbout
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 Manager £8.10 Deputy £ 7.75 Assistants £ 7.10 All are L3 except manager who is/was L5 (its complicated!) We pay for the role not the qualification, we couldn't afford to do that
AnonyMouse_25678 Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 A very interesting thread - we are just about to start looking at putting our charges up to cover the increase in minimum wage in Oct - the increase is equivalent to 3% - although I have no staff on minimum wage the level 3's are not on a lot more - I feel that all staff should have 3% rise to be fair but the business cannot sustain that without increasing fees. CVDBOUT - can I come and work for you - as an EYT I can only dream of being on that wage!!
Guest Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 (edited) A very interesting thread - we are just about to start looking at putting our charges up to cover the increase in minimum wage in Oct - the increase is equivalent to 3% - although I have no staff on minimum wage the level 3's are not on a lot more - I feel that all staff should have 3% rise to be fair but the business cannot sustain that without increasing fees. CVDBOUT - can I come and work for you - as an EYT I can only dream of being on that wage!! Ha! Our manager splits her time between manager and supervisor roles (and when she's covering for someone other than the supervisor she submits assistant hours), so the £15 an hour isn't for every hour she's in the building. She doesn't even know about the increase, it was only decided 2 weeks ago as she had just finished her degree! She will get the happy news this week. Prior to this, it was £11.62 for manager. In this round of pay reviews, we increased by 2.5% across the board (with the exception of manager). Previous years have been around 1.75-2%. Edited March 25, 2014 by cvdbout
Guest Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 Wow thank you all for your responses - very helpful. Our current pay is as follows: Manager (with senco qual and level 4) £11.70 Deputy (with foundation degree) £10 Assistants/practitioners with varying quals and experience from level 3 up to foundation degree £6.50 up to £9.30. I'm thinking they are all quite favourable rates of pay from looking at the info you've all given me. What do you think?
Guest Posted March 25, 2014 Posted March 25, 2014 Blimey your settings must have a money tree. I'm an EYP and I'm paid £6.35, same as the other nursery assistants, who are all level 3.
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 Wow thank you all for your responses - very helpful. Our current pay is as follows: Manager (with senco qual and level 4) £11.70 Deputy (with foundation degree) £10 Assistants/practitioners with varying quals and experience from level 3 up to foundation degree £6.50 up to £9.30. I'm thinking they are all quite favourable rates of pay from looking at the info you've all given me. What do you think? looking at those rates makes it look so complicated.. but well paid for most. we used to look at the roles and pay for those rather than the qualification...Manager, Deputy and assistants.. if the post was for an assistant then the pay was for that position... higher qualification gave a few pence an hour addition to this.. not much but a bit of recognition that added up over a year.. any wage increases were by percentage of wage.. not a set amount . I can see why the Manager and deputy could have an issue with the wage as the structure below them means they do not earn a lot more than the highest paid assistant but have a lot more responsibility and probably do a lot more of the 'unseen' work in their roles... Pay structure (and lack of funds to pay / low wages despite having long earnt qualifications) is a hard one for all . One a precedent has been set it is hard to change it.. All would like a highly qualified team but income usually dictates the wages.. or lack of them. We had, as many companies do in the private sector, a bonus scheme.. that was related to performance and our annual reviews...this allowed us to look at the books at the end of a financial year and decide if/what we could afford.. all staff knew it was related to this ..and if finances did not allow we got a small token amount... Most years we got a reasonable bonus.. manager and deputy always had more than assistants.. made up for all the unpaid hours they did .. assistants got less depending on performance not qualification.. so if they did not do well in some areas it was reduced.. sounds harsh but it did help all want to do as well as they could..
AnonyMouse_22106 Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 We did as Inge - in our good old days - pay a bonus depending on finances.
AnonyMouse_44476 Posted March 26, 2014 Posted March 26, 2014 We pay for the role not qualification too so if 2 members of staff are doing the same role and have same responsibilities but one is level 3 and one level 5 they are paid the same. We also do exactly the same as Inge with regards to bonuses - works for us but may not work for all!
AnonyMouse_22106 Posted March 27, 2014 Posted March 27, 2014 What about the other 'roles' some people take on? Senco, Enco, Health & Safety, Behaviour, Designated Safeguarding etc Do you acknowledge in a monetary way or share out the roles, or does the Manager do most of them?
AnonyMouse_3735 Posted March 27, 2014 Posted March 27, 2014 For us the roles were spread out equally between the staff.. so all had an added responsibility of some kind... we were all level 3 and above.. and tended to recruit level 3 staff... when not level 3 we had a junior assistant rate and the job did not involve the added responsibility.. I suppose with max of 7 staff... and most times only 5 if was easy to do...
Guest Posted March 27, 2014 Posted March 27, 2014 Hi, I am the manager of a setting, a qualified EYP and now doing my final year of my MA. I earn £8.50ph. My level 3's are on minimum wage, with my deputy being paid slightly more per hour. Hope this helps?
Guest Posted March 28, 2014 Posted March 28, 2014 Interesting thread. We are in Kent. Our Manager is on around £11, Deputy £10 and level 3's £9. All the level 3's have extra responsibilities - including SENCO, behaviour, safeguarding, Health and safety.
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted March 29, 2014 Posted March 29, 2014 hi Mighty oak ...the issue here of course is not what we all do but what you can afford! There is no point paying lots if this will put the business out of business! All our setting are different and are run on different basis but i too do not pay for qualifications or for 'extra' jobs because i cannot afford it....but my staff know that i will pay them as much as i can without jeopardizing their job! 1
AnonyMouse_7356 Posted March 30, 2014 Posted March 30, 2014 Is running off to give myself a pay rise! I am an EYP and Manager (have been for nearly 5 years now) and only get £8.90 and hour! Though were salary so £625 a month. Other manager is same and L3 gets £525 a month. Not really sure what hers is hourly. Unqualified assistant gets £6.50 an hour
AnonyMouse_30128 Posted March 30, 2014 Posted March 30, 2014 might want to read this !! http://www.livingwage.org.uk/blog/new-uk-living-wage-%C2%A3765-new-london-rate-%C2%A3880
Guest Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 It's a shame our work is not recognized by the government, we can't afford to pay the staff a decent wage but are expected to have qualifications, we also have to follow the same guidelines as schools, undervalued and under pressure!!!!!
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted July 7, 2014 Posted July 7, 2014 Birmingham want every setting to pay minimum of living wage (£7.65) per hr as a condition of receiving 3 & 4 yr old funding!
AnonyMouse_22106 Posted July 8, 2014 Posted July 8, 2014 Birmingham want every setting to pay minimum of living wage (£7.65) per hr as a condition of receiving 3 & 4 yr old funding! I remember you posting about this before Rea and then saw it on the news - is this definitely going ahead then?
AnonyMouse_3139 Posted July 8, 2014 Posted July 8, 2014 DfE, NDNA & PLA are involved. Don't think itsegal so at the moment the council are planning consultation so they can work out how settings could afford it or not.
Guest Posted October 19, 2014 Posted October 19, 2014 Interesting thread - so many differences! I guess it also depends on where in the country you are, as rates differ in the south to the north, for example. We pay Unqualified: £6.50/h Level 2: £6.75/h Level 3: £7.25/h Deputies: £8.50/h Manager: £11/h This has only just changed - previously everyone under Deputy level was on £6.50 regardless of qualification etc.
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