Hull City Council offering cash bonus to new childcare practitioners

Hull City Council has been chosen to take part in a new pilot scheme that offers a cash incentive to newly qualified or returning childcare practitioners.

Back in March 2023, the government announced transformative reforms in childcare for working parents, expanding the offer of free childcare to more working parents. As a result, all local authorities had to look at how they could create more capacity and tackle the lack of sufficiently qualified early years practitioners.

In Hull, it was anticipated that around 300 additional qualified practitioners would be required by September 2025.

Hull City Council, along with 19 other local authorities were awarded funding to participate in a pilot, where eligible new recruits would be offered a £1,000 cash bonus.

They receive the bonus once they qualify and have worked a full 12 weeks.

The pilot runs until the end of 2024.

It is hoped the pilot will encourage new recruits to train in Hull, as well as encourage more people to return to the childcare sector.

Pauline Turner, the Director of Children and Family Services at Hull City Council said: "We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure we meet demand locally, supporting our providers so that they can continue providing good quality childcare support for those in Hull who are entitled to it.

"We encourage anybody considering a career in childcare to start now, there's never been a better time."