Coronavirus: Nurseries and childminders call for more support to ensure survival of settings

National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years (PACEY) have joined together to call on the Chancellor to provide additional help for providers and for clarification on whether measures announced in the budget would be made available to ‘micro-businesses’, voluntary-run groups and childminders.

They say given the uncertainty about whether nurseries, pre-schools and childminders may have to close as a result of the spread of the virus and the need for people to self-isolate, means urgent clarification about emergency Government support for sustainability and continuity of early education funding is needed, as well as back-up support for the majority of settings that do not have loss of earnings included in their business insurance.

The Department for Education has set up a telephone helpline dedicated to Coronavirus queries. However, this morning, 13 minutes after it opened, there was a queue of more than 60 people waiting to speak with someone.

Meanwhile, Juliette Davies, founder of the EY Matters website, has launched a petition and open letter calling on the schools minister Nick Gibb  and children and families minister Vicky Ford to provide additional support for childcare settings during the pandemic.

The letter, which has been signed by childcare lecturers, nursery owners, a nursery school headteacher and early years trainer, states, ‘The early years sector will always have the welfare and safety of the children at the heart, but there are serious concerns as to the impact that coronavirus will have on the various provisions and settings if staff absences become untenable or the worst case scenario of nurseries, pre-schools and childminders being forced to close.’

It calls for reassurance that funding will be made available to the sector in case of:

• Forced closures
• Loss of revenue to self-employed workers such as childminders, independent trainers and consultants that work within and support the sector.
• Financial support to the workers within the sector who are historically on a low-income and will therefore not have funds set aside to cover them in situations such as this.
• Clarity in terms of unequivocal guidance being made available, either in terms of policy or via an advisory source, for example a Department for Education helpline, to cover things such as ratios, statutory sick pay entitlement, closures and support for frontline workers.

The petition on the Change.org website so far has 528 signatures.

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Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the NDNA, said, ‘Early years providers are crucial to local economies and ensuring children get the best possible start in life. Our members are working round the clock to ensure their settings are safe and healthy environments so they can stay open for working families.

‘What they need is more clarity from the Government about what will happen to funded places in the event of closures becoming necessary. We also want to see what back-up the Government will offer for those who can’t get insurance cover for this new strain of disease. Without wholesale support settings that are forced to close might not be able to re-open.’

Liz Bayram, chief executive of PACEY, added, ‘Up and down the country right now childminders, nurseries and pre-schools are doing all they can to help fight this virus as well as reassure the children in their care. All whilst trying to understand and mitigate the risk to their small business.

'We need Government to act urgently to reassure settings that they will provide them with the necessary financial support to ensure, once this outbreak is over, that they can continue to provide the early education that children need and the childcare that working parents rely on. Providers need certainty on funding and support to overcome loss of business now. If Government continues to delay, it will be the death knell for many providers who traditionally operate on very low incomes and with tight cashflows.’

Getting supplies

As numbers of Coronavirus cases increase in the UK and individuals continue to stockpile, nurseries are also facing the problem of having enough food and supplies for the children in their care.

Writing on Twitter, David Wright (@Mr_PaintPots), owner of Paintpots Nurseries in Southampton, said, ‘Maybe it will be the logistics that finish us off? We can’t get any online shopping slots next week. Same restrictions on orders /deliveries as for households – so only three packs of nappies. Spent the morning driving to shops and being scowled at!’