The Department for Education commissioned a research to collect information about childcare and early years provision across England in 2011. The report findings are drawn together to provide an overview of the whole childcare and early years sector including similarities and differences between specific types of provider, breakdown of staff by staff type and average hourly pay of early years workers. The ‘absent presence’ of the exploration of unpaid staff or volunteers within the early years environment however, is evident. Therefore the focus of this paper is to investigate who these volunteers are, and to explore and analyse discourses of unpaid staff or volunteers in policy documents and in early years provision.