New project to track Covid-19 impact on early years sector

A new ‘portal’ will provide real-time data tracking closures and numbers of children in settings which are still operating. Results will be anonymised, collated at local authority level, and shared in table form on a weekly basis.

The portal is pitched at managers and owners of nurseries, pre-schools and childminders in England, who will also be invited to complete short follow-up surveys on reasons for closures, access to Government support, staff numbers furloughed and numbers of redundancies, among other things. Potential to extend it to Scotland and Wales is also currently being explored.

How the portal looks

In addition, an Early Years Workforce Panel will be launched on Monday, which will be open to anyone employed in an early years setting this year. The aim of the panel is to gather more in-depth information, including on employment status and staff well-being.

Jo Verrill, Managing Director at Ceeda, said the combined aims of the two projects were to get a picture of what is happening on the ground at the moment, evaluate the impact of Covid-19, highlight the sector’s vital contribution, and find out what support the sector would need to recover.

‘We urge everyone to get involved’ Dr Verrill said. ‘Many in the sector anticipated a tough year, as statutory pay increases in April further widened the yawning chasm between funding rates and operating costs. None, however, could have anticipated the devastation that the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked.

‘With many providers having limited reserves to weather the crisis and guidance on assistance lacking the clarity needed to make confident decisions, the future of the sector is in the balance.’

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, which has contributed funding towards the project, said: ‘To date, much of the public focus on the childcare sector during the coronavirus outbreak has been around the negative impact of closures and fees on parents. As such, we're pleased that the Covid-19 portal will provide much-needed accurate data on provider activity, and in turn, ensure that we have a realistic and fair picture of exactly how much support the early years sector is providing during this difficult period, and - equally importantly - how much support we ourselves will need to be able to recover from this crisis.’

See the portal here: https://covidportal.ceeda.co.uk/

• Nursery World is media partner for this project.