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Research from the Family and Childcare Trust has found that a pay increase of just £1 an hour can make the difference between a childcare setting with a ‘Good’ Ofsted rating and that with an ‘Outstanding’.

The study ‘In for a pound’ observed the hourly pay rates in 900 job advertisements for nursery staff across England and discovered that settings graded ‘Outstanding’ pay their staff an average hourly wage of £8.37, compared to £7.44 in settings ranked ‘Good’. Settings with ‘Requires Improvement’ or ‘Inadequate’ grading had an average pay of £6.92 per hour.

Neil Leitch, chief executive at the Pre-school Learning ��������, said he was not surprised by the findings. “As we have stated time and time again, quality costs,” he said. “If the government is serious about improving standards within settings - and ultimately achieving better outcomes for children - they need to invest what is needed to do so.”

The study found the link between pay and Ofsted grades to be evident across England’s nine regions, with London’s gap being the most pronounced. In London, £2.58 per hour is the difference between ‘Outstanding’ settings and ‘Inadequate’ or ‘Requires Improvement’, whereas in the North West this stands at £2 an hour.

“We know that only good quality childcare makes a positive difference to the lives of disadvantaged children which is why we are calling on the Department for Education to address low pay in its forthcoming early years’ workforce strategy,” said Julia Margo, Family and Childcare Trust chief executive.

“Longer term, we want to see a fully graduate-led workforce with a minimum professional rate of pay, bringing early years professionals in line with their school colleagues.”