Liverpool: Childcare boot camps held in bid to attract new staff

This scheme comes after the government announced plan to extend free childcare places in the Spring budget

Boot camps for people interested in working in early years childcare is being offered for free in a city in a bid to attract new staff.

The courses in Liverpool give basic training with a guaranteed interview for an apprenticeship at the end.

Lole Croker who took part said it had "really made it very clear where I can go with this type of career".

Early years training firm, Realise, said there was a "serious recruitment crisis" in the sector.

The three week courses have been funded by the Department for Education.

Another participant in Liverpool, James Hartley, said he hoped to run his own nursery one day.

"It's not normally a man's profession, so I'm trying to promote that," he said.

"The reason I'm taking so many courses like this is because I'm trying to build my own business."

Participant James Hartley said he hoped to run his own nursery one day

Karen Derbyshire, operations director for early years at Realise, based in Liverpool City Region, said the scheme would help providers who were struggling to keep staff.

"We work with over a thousand employers across England at Realise and they are all feeding back the same thing, that they are already seeing those struggles in terms of attracting and retaining staff," she said.

"We're already in quite a serious recruitment crisis in early years.

"This is going to attract new people to the sector that have maybe not worked in the sector before or people who have previously worked in it and left."

Rachel Wallace, who also took part in the course, said "It feels very lovely.

"I can get to be the grown up that maybe I didn't necessarily have when I was little."

The free eight-twelve week courses have been funded by the Department for Education.

The government announced a plan to extend free childcare places in the Spring budget.

From April 2024, working parents of two-year-olds will be able to access 15 hours of free childcare.

In September, that expands to babies over nine months old.

By September 2025, 30 hours of free childcare per week will be available to working parents of children under the age of five.

Government spending is doubling to £8bn per-year to fund the expansion, but Jonathan Broadbery from the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) said it was not enough.

"It's going to be really challenging for providers to deliver what the government has promised if the funding is not addressed," he said.

"It's not possible for settings to stay open, deliver the high quality care and education they want to at the rates the government is promising to pay."

He said schemes like this were the type of interventions it had been calling for "a number of years", adding: "Anything that gets more people working in early years education and care is a great idea."

"We want to see a broader range of people taking up the opportunity to work with younger children."

Those who sign up get basic training which then guarantees them an interview for an apprenticeship

Children's Minister David Johnston said the boot camps get people "job ready" and targeted areas where there was local need for childcare staff.

"This government is making the single largest investment that's ever been made in childcare," he said.

"So in the last couple of years there have been significant increases in the amount of money that we've been giving to providers as well as significant increases in the national living wage.

"So we felt confident that we are giving the amount of money that is required."