Child and early years officers

SOC 2020 code 3222

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.

Employees (UK)
53k
Median annual pay
£29,347
Exposure score ?
2.1/10 Low direct 2.1 · with tools 5.5
Wage exposure
£327m

Higher exposure than 82% of the 379 UK occupations we scored.

What this score means

A handful of tasks in this role are touchable by AI, mostly around paperwork, scheduling and basic writing. The shape of the role stays the same - some parts just get faster.

If you're in this role, here's what to do now

Pick the two or three most repetitive things in your week and try an LLM on them. Most people underestimate what Claude or ChatGPT can already do for admin-shaped work. The time you get back is the dividend.

The tasks in this role, ranked by AI exposure

Below are the real tasks O*NET records for this occupation, sorted highest exposure first. "AI can do this" means a language model can already handle the task directly. "AI can help" means an LLM can assist but not replace. "Human work" means today's AI doesn't touch it. Importance is O*NET's 1–5 rating of how central each task is to the role.

4 of 19 tasks in this role are things an AI can already do today. Task list mapped via O*NET "Social and Human Service Assistants" (21-1093.00).

  1. Keep records or prepare reports for owner or management concerning visits with clients.

    AI can do thisimportance 4.0/5
  2. Submit reports and review reports or problems with superior.

    AI can do thisimportance 3.9/5
  3. Assist in planning food budgets, using charts or sample budgets.

    AI can do thisimportance 3.1/5
  4. Assist clients with preparation of forms, such as tax or rent forms.

    AI can do thisimportance 3.0/5
  5. Assess clients' cognitive abilities and physical and emotional needs to determine appropriate interventions.

    Human workimportance 4.4/5
  6. Develop and implement behavioral management and care plans for clients.

    Human workimportance 4.1/5
  7. Oversee day-to-day group activities of residents in institution.

    Human workimportance 4.1/5
  8. Visit individuals in homes or attend group meetings to provide information on agency services, requirements, or procedures.

    Human workimportance 4.0/5
  9. Assist in locating housing for displaced individuals.

    Human workimportance 3.8/5
  10. Interview individuals or family members to compile information on social, educational, criminal, institutional, or drug history.

    Human workimportance 3.8/5
  11. Provide information or refer individuals to public or private agencies or community services for assistance.

    Human workimportance 3.6/5
  12. Consult with supervisor concerning programs for individual families.

    Human workimportance 3.5/5
  13. Advise clients regarding food stamps, child care, food, money management, sanitation, or housekeeping.

    Human workimportance 3.4/5
  14. Demonstrate use and care of equipment for tenant use.

    Human workimportance 3.3/5
  15. Explain rules established by owner or management, such as sanitation or maintenance requirements or parking regulations.

    Human workimportance 3.0/5
  16. Observe clients' food selections and recommend alternate economical and nutritional food choices.

    Human workimportance 2.9/5
  17. Observe and discuss meal preparation and suggest alternate methods of food preparation.

    Human workimportance 2.9/5
  18. Transport and accompany clients to shopping areas or to appointments, using automobile.

    Human workimportance 2.8/5
  19. Inform tenants of facilities, such as laundries or playgrounds.

    Human workimportance 2.6/5

Where a project with Alex usually starts for this role

These are the highest-importance tasks in this role that a language model can already handle directly. In a typical engagement the first wins come from building workflows around these, so they stop eating your team's time.

  1. Keep records or prepare reports for owner or management concerning visits with clients.

    O*NET importance 4.0/5 · labelled directly AI-automatable

  2. Submit reports and review reports or problems with superior.

    O*NET importance 3.9/5 · labelled directly AI-automatable

  3. Assist in planning food budgets, using charts or sample budgets.

    O*NET importance 3.1/5 · labelled directly AI-automatable

Every role has three or four wedges like these. Finding them takes an hour. Turning them into a workflow your team actually uses takes a few days. Talk to Alex about a project →

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Methodology

This role's exposure score comes from Eloundou et al's 2023 GPT task labels, aggregated by O*NET importance within each O*NET-SOC code, then bridged to UK SOC 2020 via ISCO-08 (ONS Vol 2 coding index) and US SOC 2010 (BLS crosswalk). Employment and median pay come from ONS ASHE Table 14.7a, 2025 provisional. ASHE covers employees only, so self-employed workers are not counted.

Methodology · Sources (PDF) · About · Built 23 April 2026

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