East Midlands Playwork

Facts and figures

From the Playwork People 3 survey in 2007, research into the region’s play workforce revealed that:

• Playwork is a female dominated profession.  Nationally, four out of five respondents (85.9%) are women and the picture is no different in the East Midlands, where an even greater proportion of the workforce is women (94.3%).  
• Nearly a third of all playwork employers are experiencing a skills gap in their current workforce (36.7%).  This is equivalent to the proportion for England as a whole and worryingly suggests that skills gaps are a significant problem for playwork employers.
• Playwork settings can generally be termed as micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees.  82.0% of employers stated that they employed ten or less full-time, part-time, paid or unpaid staff.
• The three most likely reasons for hard-to-fill vacancies are “lack of work experience the play setting needs” (65.2% of employers experiencing a hard-to-fill vacancy), “lack of qualifications for the job” (65.2%) and “poor terms and conditions offered for the post / low pay” (52.2%).  
• The most frequently cited implications of hard-to-fill vacancies are an increased workload for other staff (50.0% of employers) suggesting that other staff take on the duties and workload of those unfilled posts. 

Working in the East Midlands

Lynette Robertson is the Playwork Regional Development Manager for the East Midlands.

Lynette Robertson - Regional Development Manager

• Email:       Lynette.robertson@skillsactive.com 
• Mobile:      +44 (0)7894479916 
• Castlewood House,
  77-91 New Oxford Street,
  London
  WC1A 1PX