The latest survey will look at how many early years professionals have left their jobs, or been furloughed during the pandemic, as well as recruitment challenges for the sector.
Other aspects covered by the survey are occupancy levels in early years settings, and whether early years workers have had access to Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
As the number of positive cases in nurseries and pre-schools have fallen as we move onto the spring months, the NDNA said it expected fewer settings to have had to close because of Covid.
However, the number of children attending settings is a concern, as it remains lower than would be expected during the summer term.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the NDNA, said, ‘We know that from March the numbers of cases in early years settings started to reduce significantly so we’re not expecting so many nurseries to have been disrupted by closures as they were over the winter months.
‘However, we know that far fewer children have been attending nursery than would normally. With parental income still low and costs increasing in April with rises to the mandatory minimum wages, nurseries are seriously concerned about whether they can remain sustainable.
‘Staff in early years settings are vital for children’s experiences and outcomes so we want to have the latest picture of what’s been happening in the last few months. It’s vital that childcare providers across England, Scotland and Wales take a few minutes to give us this information so we can keep on top of the challenges for early years providers.’
The latest survey is part of a larger four part study. The NDNA said that it would publish a round-up of findings from the whole survey when it publishes the final survey report.
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Separate surveys are available for members in England, Scotland and Wales to reflect different lockdown measures, funding support and staffing considerations.
