The Institute of Public Policy Research have produced this report looks at early years pay, profession and professionalisation as a key way to address poverty. The authors state that the early years workforce is low paid (£6.80 p/h) and consists of 98% women. Hence, early years employment can not only greatly assist service users escape poverty but also directly assist those staff in the sector.

Key points:
- The low wages paid in the sector will limit potential to ensure high skills exist in the workforce, often reinforced by social status.
- The lack of staff with level 3 qualifications (currently just 7% of the workforce) limits potential for increased earnings in the sector and the lack of career progression restricts demand for higher skills.
- The current process of professionalising the early years workforce is alienating practitioners and skewing efforts to drive up the quality of services. This is manifested in complaints about the dominance of paperwork over direct work with children and of qualifications over broader skills and experience. These raise important questions about what makes an expert practitioner and how policy changes (such as the Early Years Foundation Stage) are being implemented.