Early education and childcare practitioners Pay Data UK — 2024

Early education and childcare practitioners roles in the UK earn a median of £17,279 per year, equivalent to £12.70 per hour as of 2024. This represents a 3.6% increase in annual pay compared to the previous year. Pay varies across the UK, ranging from £12,044 to £26,497 per year.

How Pay Varies Across the UK

Each bar shows how many areas of the UK have a median annual pay in that range for Early education and childcare practitioners roles. The dashed line marks the national median.

Based on sub-regional area data. Want a precise figure for your area?

About Early education and childcare practitioners

Early education and childcare practitioners lead the learning and development of and care for children from birth up to five years of age in a school, nursery, or childcare environment.

Typical Tasks and Duties

• plans children’s day and activities and leads on social, language and numerical development
• coordinates observation and assessment on children’s play, development and learning
• identifies and responds to health and safety issues
• leads on preparing children for transitions to different settings, including school.
• communicates with parents, colleagues and external professionals on children’s development and health and well-being
• supervises and supports other early education and childcare workers
• coordinates nurturing care in bathing, dressing, preparation of feeds, feeding babies, and in changing babies and toddlers clothing whenever necessary
• provides a secure and supportive environment and supervises young children at mealtimes
• promotes and leads physical activities and children’s games, play, creativity, and problem solving

Entry Routes and Qualifications

Qualified practitioners need to have achieved an early years degree qualification, such as Early Years Professional, Early Years Teacher, Early Childhood Studies Degree, Early Childhood Graduate Practitioner Competencies. A DBS check is mandatory.

Related Occupations

Salary data is sourced from official UK pay datasets and updated periodically.