Analysis - Settings in staffing crisis due to Covid-related absences

• Nurseries continue to face Covid-related staff absences
• Setting reports loss of local authority funding due to temporary closure
  
  

As the Government moves to lift more Covid restrictions, early years settings are continuing to be hit hard by staff absences due to the virus, with many facing financial hardship if they are forced to close.

According to statistics from the Department for Education, as of 12 January, 13 per cent of paid early years staff in ‘open group or school-based settings’ were absent from work due to Covid-19-related reasons.

Data from the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) suggests that one in six childcare staff is isolating, while one in ten children attending settings has the virus. The findings for the week of 10 January are based on a survey of 171 settings across England, Scotland and Wales.

The data was collected ahead of the move by the Government to remove the requirement in England to wear masks indoors, effective from 27 January. In Scotland, masks must continue to be worn. As Nursery Worldwent to press, Wales was considering reviewing masks.

It comes as research by King’s College London shows that Covid cases are rising in those under the age of 18 because of the ‘back to school’ effect.

Nurseries still facing ‘uncertainty’

David Wright, owner of Paint Pots Nursery & Pre-school, which had 15 staff across nine settings off work with Covid towards the end of January, said, ‘After two years of the pandemic, every day is still an experience of uncertainty – where and when will the next case/cases of Covid materialise and what effect will this have?

‘The Government may declare that we are winning the battle against Covid, but it doesn’t feel that way in the trenches. Even when the current wave of cases subsides, it is clear that we are not returning to normal in terms of expectations. The rhetorical question must be – where is the recognition of the challenges we have faced and support for the early years sector?’

Nurseries continue to report having to close rooms or entire settings due to large numbers of employees being forced to self-isolate. This is despite the reduction in Covid self-isolation from seven to five days – a move which, for many settings, hasn’t necessarily helped as staff continue to test positive on a lateral flow test past days five and six, or are too unwell to return.

Piglets Pre-school in Chessington had to close for a week last month after 13 out of 20 staff contracted the virus.

Jo Morris, director of the two Playsteps Nurseries in Swindon, said the reduction in self-isolation was causing added stress and a logistical nightmare due to not knowing when staff would test negative two days in a row and be able to return.

She is calling on the DfE to advise that children under the age of five who are close contacts of a positive Covid case are regularly tested with lateral flows, putting them on an equal footing with adults and older children. Her call has received the support of other childcare settings.

She told Nursery World, ‘Since January, we have been hit hard by Covid. Out of a total of 26 staff over two settings, 13 have had the virus and two have had to isolate because they aren’t doubled vaccinated. A lot of staff have been off at the same time.’

Morris said in most cases, staff had continued to test positive after days five and six.

She also said having to report cases three times – to the local authority, Test and Trace and Ofsted – was time-consuming.

Parents whose children attend one of the settings were asked to consider doing a lateral flow test on their children before their first session of the week. But Morris said she could not enforce this.

Legally, children under the age of 18 are not required to isolate when a member of their household tests positive for Covid, as long as they do not have the virus themselves.

The DfE advises that children under five identified as a close contact, who are not required to take a daily lateral flow test, get a PCR test, but this cannot be enforced.

When Nursery Worldcontacted the DfE for a response to the call for younger children to regularly test for Covid, we were referred to the above guidance.

Covid policies

A number of settings have taken matters into their own hands and amended their policy to state that families with a positive case within their household cannot send their children in.

However, the DfE says that settings should not charge parents for a service they are not providing.

The guidance states, ‘The general principle is that providers should not charge parents or carers for services that cannot be provided. If there is a barrier to accessing childcare, based on Government guidance or the law, the provider should not charge the parents or carers for this period.’

At Wishing Well Nursery in East Yorkshire, families are asked to keep children at home if a member of their household tests positive for Covid in order to protect staff, parents and other children who are vulnerable.

Under the policy, which the nursery introduced in September, parents are not charged while their children are absent.

In a message to parents, the nursery states, ‘We have heard of many families where one member has tested positive for Covid and within days so have other individuals. With young children it is not possible to isolate them or keep your distance within the family home. This is why we are asking families to keep their little ones off nursery while a member of the household waits for a PCR test and obviously keeps them off if they receive a positive result. There will be no charge during this time.’

Owner Vicci Wheeldon told Nursery World, ‘Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have done my upmost to keep everyone as safe and at ease as possible in an ever-changing situation; we did not charge for hundreds of Covid-related absences – some parents kept children off for months until they felt safe for them to return. We kept the places open for these families with no charge at all.

‘The pandemic has had such a negative impact on the childcare sector and the health and wellbeing of employees. The sector was severely underfunded and struggling before Covid, the virus has just exacerbated the situation’.

‘Funding stripped away’ by local authorities

Meanwhile, in some parts of the country, nurseries and childminders that are forced to close due to Covid are having their funding stripped away from them by their local authority.

Julie McCallum, joint owner of Play and Learn Pre-school, who operates two settings in North Somerset, had to close both sites for a number of days in January after staff and children tested positive for Covid.

Her local authority, North Somerset Council, told her they will be withdrawing funding for the days that the settings were closed.

McCallum, who manages the site in Mead Vale, told Nursery World, ‘Covid has spread like wildfire through both of our pre-schools.

‘We started being affected by Covid cases on the weekend of 7 January when three staff tested positive for Covid, also children from both settings.

‘We had an email from our local authority to say – “Most settings don’t have full closures but instead have partial closures, so children especially those of key workers can still have childcare. Alternatively, you can offer the funded hours lost at another time in the funding period.”’

She went on to say, ‘If we lose funding because of closure, this will have a massive impact on our finances, as we will also have to refund parents who have paid.

‘We need to be able to make our own decisions based on the children who attend, and the risks to all, without having the extra stress and pressure of losing our funding because closing was the only option available to us.’

The DfE states that, ‘Local authorities must take account of the provisions within the Early education and childcare statutory guidance for local authorities in making decisions on funding for providers which have restricted attendance, or are closed or temporarily closed for reasons connected to coronavirus.’

Specifically, it says that ‘local authorities should ensure that providers are not penalised through withdrawal of funding for short-term closures of a setting, for example, as a result of local or national elections or damage to the premises.’

Nursery World contacted North Somerset Council for a comment but had not received one at the time of going to press. The NDNA said any move to take away funding from nurseries due to Covid absences would be ‘acting in a very unfair and damaging way’.

Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said, ‘Any local authorities who are removing or planning to remove funding from nurseries because of places lost due to Covid absences need to think about the impact this approach would have on the sustainability of nurseries and other childcare providers.

‘However widespread this is, it’s a huge concern for providers affected in this way. We know that many nurseries with high numbers of staff absent are already really struggling to remain open for their children.’

Childminders also face losing money when they have to close due to a positive case within their household.

Nursery World reported last month that childminders with household members who test positive for Covid and have to temporarily close their business are ineligible for the NHS Test and Trace £500 support payment.

A Department for Education spokesperson said, ‘We have provided extensive guidance for the early years workforce on the measures to take to reduce the spread of Covid-19, as well as significant financial support to protect providers from the impact of the pandemic. Providers can use existing flexibilities set out in the Early Years Statutory Framework to manage short-term workforce pressures, so long as children continue to be cared for safely.’

Covid isolation

A virologist has suggested that people who catch Covid-19 should isolate for 10 days to ensure they don’t pass on the virus.

It comes after the Government reduced Covid isolation from seven to five days in England, effective from Monday 17 January. Under the new rules, if a person tests negative on days five and six after originally testing positive or displaying symptoms, they can leave home.

The UK Health Security Agency estimates that between 10 and 30 per cent of people will still be positive at day six – and that 5 per cent of people will still be positive at day 10.

The UKHSA advises that those who are freed from self-isolation before 10 days after infection, where possible avoid close contact and work from home up until day 10, the default self-isolation period.

Professor Jeremy Rossman, an honorary senior lecturer in virologyat the University of Kent, told Nursery World the lowest risk of ongoing transmission, would be to isolate for 10 days and take a lateral flow test at the end of the isolation period.

He explained, ‘While the majority of people will no longer be infectious after about five days, there is still a considerable risk of contagiousness extending till day 10 or beyond.

‘The far simpler and more consistent guidance is to isolate for 10 days with a requirement for LFT [a lateral flow test] at the end. This is important for ensuring the lowest risk for ongoing transmission and ensuring the health and wellbeing of the population, especially when considering any high transmission environment or high-risk individuals.’

MORE INFORMATION

• Action for early years and childcare providers during Covid – https://bit.ly/32AhVaS
• Stay at home guidance – https://bit.ly/3H7dEL8
• Statutory guidance for LAs – https://bit.ly/3o1QE8K