Workforce Registration: Building the Foundations of a Stronger Early Years Profession

The Best Start in Life Strategy, which launched in July 2025, contains a range of plans intended to help address the various challenges in the early education and childcare sector. Importantly, included in these plans is a commitment to raising the status of early years educators. A key development is the proposal of workforce registration:  

We will work with the sector to co-design and introduce a new professional register to put early years workers on a more professional footing and create clear paths for career progression, to drive up standards and professionalism among the workforce. (p.10)   

This development has been broadly welcomed by the early years sector. More widely, polling on behalf of the Early Education and Childcare Coalition, published in Pulse Check 2025 showed strong public support for a professional register. 81% of parents and 78% of the wider public would like to see a register for early years similar to that held by the Teaching Regulation Agency for qualified teachers. 

But what exactly is a workforce registry, why is it important and how does it work? 

Understanding Workforce Registries 

Workforce registries are not simply digital lists of who is working in early education. They are comprehensive, validated data systems that track and promote the education, training, experience, and employment history of professionals in the sector. They serve both practical and strategic functions: a one-stop platform for early years professionals to access training, employment opportunities, and CPD tools, while also giving employers, researchers, and policymakers a reliable evidence base to shape decisions. 

Well-developed registries not only validate credentials but also link to career pathways, salary structures, and long-term workforce development strategies. For individuals, they offer clarity on progression and training needs. For providers, they offer visibility into staff qualifications, gaps, and planning needs. For governments and researchers, they represent one of the few accurate, consistent sources of sector-wide workforce data. 

Internationally, there are also several examples of where registration has been successfully implemented, notably in Canadian provinces and territories, and several US states, where registries have proven instrumental in overcoming fragmentation. Scotland has a well-established registry, which following a period of consultation with the sector has recently undergone revisions. Additionally, work is ongoing in Ireland, Wales, and Australia to develop registration for the early education and childcare workforce as a key development of respective national early years workforce strategies.  

In other sectors work is evolving to explore registration too. For example, in adult social care, the sector skills organisation Skills for Care is currently gathering evidence on the impacts and potential models of a social care workforce registration scheme. 

Key Questions to consider 

Whilst this development to support the professional recognition and status of the early years workforce is welcome, there remain questions about the implementation of the registry and benefits to the workforce, employers, and parents. Nonetheless, as one strand of a much-needed focus on the early years workforce, the opportunity to shape this development is welcomed.  

As the plan for workforce registration develops, a number of important questions are emerging: 

• What will be the scope of a proposed workforce registry? 

• Who will be responsible for setting it up and maintaining it? 

• Which roles will be included—will it encompass childminders, nannies, support staff? 

• Will there be a cost attached to registering? 

• Will CPD hours be a requirement? 

• Most crucially, what are the tangible benefits to the workforce, employers, and children? 

In the context of England’s mixed-market early years system, this could be transformative. The sector is currently highly fragmented, with inconsistent data, weak career development paths, and wide disparities in training and pay. Reports over reports show that the workforce is diverse in education levels, working conditions, and aspirations. Without a registry, it is difficult to know who is working in the sector, in what capacity, and with what qualifications. A robust, inclusive registry would be a foundational tool for evidence-based policy and strategic investment.  

Sector Responses 

While the full shape of the registry is still being defined, early reactions from the sector stress the importance of registration as one piece of a picture:  

Tina McKenzie, Policy Chair at the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said:  

“Childcare providers are facing major recruitment issues trying to find the right staff, and we hope building a registry would help promote professionalism within the sector and promote early years as a career path. It's very important this is handled carefully and does not become a regulatory requirement burdening practitioners or indeed small nurseries.” 

Nikki Pound, TUC Women's Officer/ EECC Steering Group Member said:  

'Any introduction of a professional register must actually recognise and support early education and childcare workers as the professionals that they are. That means being linked to professional levels of pay and pay progression, a right and requirement for CPD and a career structure that enables workforce development. Staff must not be expected to shoulder the costs of registering, or carry out their training outside working hours, and unions should be involved from the start alongside other sector stakeholders.' 

Conclusion 

The Best Start in Life strategy details the ‘first steps in a decade of renewal, building on the commitments made in the Plan for Change and laying the foundations for future reform’ (p7).  

While workforce registration is not a panacea for all current issues, it represents a critical step toward professionalising and supporting the early years workforce. It offers an opportunity to gather the data needed to inform better policy, improve working conditions, and ultimately further enhance provision for young children and families. The development of a robust, inclusive registration system which is co-designed with the sector and offers benefits for the workforce and confidence for families is an important first step. From there we can build a vision for the future workforce. 

These interim steps and a longer-term vision will help build a system which supports aspirations for providing early educators the recognition they deserve and giving every child the best start in life.