The Datum Report

Occupation 3222 · Associate professional occupations

Child and early years officers

Half of full-time child and early years officers in the UK earn more than £31,001 a year, and half earn less.

Child and early years officers work with babies and with children up to 14 years of age (or 16 for those with special needs), providing support, help and advice to individuals or within a family context.

How people enter it

There are no formal qualification requirements for entry although many employers will expect those appointed to have A-levels and to be working towards a relevant diploma or degree, together with work experience in a relevant field. For some roles workers must be registered with the appropriate statutory body. Some jobs are regulated and require job holders to satisfy the criteria for registration (including holding appropriate qualifications). Background checks including a DBS check are mandatory.

What the work involves

• deals with issues relating to poor attendance at school
• works with social worker to identify, plan and deliver appropriate support to families facing a variety of difficulties
• advises clients and their families on available resources
• writes up case notes, prepares reports, keeps up-to-date records on clients
• makes referrals to other agencies such as social services and educational psychologists
• attends meetings with colleagues and outside agencies

Also called

Child protection officer · Education welfare officer · Family liaison officer · Learning mentor (early years) · Parent support adviser · Portage worker (educational establishments)

What it pays

How pay has changed

Median gross annual pay for child and early years officers, full-time employees, 2023 to 2025. Each point is that year's ASHE April snapshot as published — revisions are not backfilled into earlier years, and a year ONS withheld is a gap rather than a joined line.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Year-on-year change

The change from each year to the next, in per cent, computed from the figures in the chart above — so the two cannot disagree.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Table

Pay by region

Median gross annual pay for full-time employees, ranked, against the UK figure. 11 of 11 regions are published: ONS withholds a cell where the survey sample cannot support it, and those are shown as gaps rather than dropped — an absent region is not a region without the work in it.

ONS, ASHE Table 14 - occupation by four-digit SOC (national). Period 2025. Table

Every regional figure

ONS does not publish occupational pay below region. Cells the survey could not support are shown as withheld, with its reason — adding a region split to a specific occupation leaves roughly a tenth of cells publishable.

Common questions

Classified alongside this

Counsellors · Housing officers · Welfare and housing associate professionals n.e.c. · Youth and community workers