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Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: 

"The Sutton Trust is absolutely right to call for more support for the early years workforce.

"We all know how vital the first five years of a child's life are for their long-term learning and development - and yet, despite this, early years practitioners remain both hugely undervalued and grossly underpaid. 

"For far too long, we've relied on the goodwill of early years practitioners to keep them in the sector, when what they need and deserve is to be able to progress in their careers, to know that they are valued and respected, and crucially, to be paid a decent wage."

"With so many in the workforce being paid at or just above the minimum wage, it's clear that the historic underfunding of the early years has to be addressed as a priority if we are going to continue to be able to recruit and retain talent, high-quality practitioners into the sector.

"The government cannot continue to drag its feet on this issue. It's time that ministers committed to both a comprehensive and meaningful long-term early years workforce strategy, and the substantial investment needed to attract and retain a high-quality workforce to continue providing the best possible early education to the young children in our care."