On World Mental Health Day, workforce wellbeing is once again in focus. While many recognise that working in the early years sector is highly rewarding, it also presents numerous challenges that can negatively affect workforce wellbeing. Staff are leaving the sector at alarming rates and those who do remain are faced with increasing workloads and pressures.  

These issues cannot be fixed with self-care initiatives. Instead, we are facing a workforce crisis with structural roots, and until this is addressed, no amount of staff appreciation days or shout-out boards will make a meaningful difference. 

What does the data indicate? 

The evidence base for this argument has never been stronger. The NFER's Early Years Workforce in England 2025 report (Flemons and Worth, 2025) found that those working in early years earn 36% less than those with comparable qualifications and experience elsewhere in the labour market. Only 49% of practitioners see any real opportunity for career progression, and turnover in group-based settings runs at twice the rate of school-based providers. 

Perhaps the most troubling finding is that higher-qualified staff – those we know contribute strongly to the quality of practice and provision – report significantly higher levels of anxiety than their less-qualified colleagues. The NFER identifies this as a direct risk to workforce stability.  

Strikingly, even the Government's own Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life strategy (DfE and Phillipson, 2025) acknowledges that early years staff feel overworked, overlooked, and undervalued. This is something those of us in the sector have known for many years.  

A profession built on a gendered foundation 

To understand why the sector is in this position, it is worth asking why pay within the sector has always been so poor. Early Years is a feminised profession. The work is relational and caring, involves the reading of emotions, supporting development, and working with vulnerable families. These aspects indicate that the role demands a sophisticated set of skills, yet the pay does not align with this.

Work viewed as ‘female’ and ‘caring’ has been consistently undervalued across labour markets over the course of time. Unfortunately, the consequence is a workforce that has been asked to manage the emotional demands of the role without the pay or professional support that make it sustainable in terms of wellbeing. 

Practitioners and leaders often describe their work as a vocation and additional tasks and responsibilities are taken on as ‘goodwill’. However, over the course of decades, this has been used to justify paying people less than deserved. The passion of the workforce has effectively subsidised the underfunding of the sector.  

The problem with wellbeing programmes 

Wellbeing programmes are often well intended, with thought put into making staff feel appreciated and respected. However, what could be more beneficial would be access to supervision, reflective practice, and peer support which can genuinely help people manage the demands of the role.

When a sector offers staff a 'hug in a mug' while continuing to pay poor wages or introduces a lunchtime yoga session while ratios remain unworkable, the underlying conditions driving burnout remain unaddressed. The implication is that staff need to become more resilient and better at coping, placing the burden on individuals rather than the system. 

The leaders involved in my PhD research have all experienced a growing sense of frustration at the deficits in the system which impact their wellbeing, and that of their teams. Concerns were raised about taking on additional responsibilities with the closure of Children’s Centres, staff facing ever-increasing demands due to accountability factors and the corresponding impacts on wellbeing. 

Thinking towards the future 

If we are serious about workforce wellbeing in this sector, the questions we ask need to be directed at policymakers. That means pay parity with comparable roles in maintained schools and other professional settings, career pathways that give staff a reason to remain in role, and protected time for supervision and reflective practice built into the working week.

The Government's strategy does gesture towards some of these things. It includes commitments around recruitment, retention, and professional development that, if delivered with adequate funding, could begin to see a shift. However, these commitments need resourcing – and the gap between policy aspiration and practice in this sector has historically been wide and unchanging. 

There is also a cultural dimension bound up in the structural challenges faced by settings. Our country has not yet made its peace with how much it values the adults who care for and educate its youngest children. Funding agreements and workforce strategies will not fully close the gap. At some point, we have to be honest about what we think early years work is worth, and whether those caring for and educating society’s youngest children are actually being paid a wage they can live on. 

The stakes are high 

The consequences of getting this wrong extend well beyond the workforce, as the quality of provision is directly shaped by the wellbeing of the adults delivering it. When experienced practitioners leave, they take with them years of relational knowledge and understanding of the children in their care.

Given how much early development rests on secure attachments, high staff turnover is a disruption to the relationships that underpin children's learning and wellbeing. Children in the earliest years of their lives are profoundly shaped by the quality of the relationships they have with the adults around them. Retaining staff is how children get the continuity of care that attachment and research show they need.  

For CACHE Alumni members and professionals working across early years, education and care, this is a time that calls for honesty about the scale of what is wrong, and determination to keep making the case for improvements. Wellbeing has to be built into the foundations of the sector, starting with pay and the structural conditions of the job. 

Join the conversation on workforce wellbeing 

On World Mental Health Day, and beyond, it's important to recognise the people at the heart of early years provision. But recognition alone is not enough. Creating a healthier, more sustainable workforce requires ongoing conversation, collaboration, and action across the sector. 

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