Coronavirus: Out-of-school clubs ‘on brink of collapse’
Nicole Weinstein
Friday, August 21, 2020
A third of out-of-school providers are on the ‘brink of collapse’, findings from a survey conducted by the Out of School Alliance (OOSA) has revealed.
It comes as the Department for Education (DfE) launched updated guidance for out-of-school, wrap-around and holiday clubs last night (20 August), just two weeks before schools are due to reopen.
A total of 620 people completed OOSA’s survey between 2 and 14 August, accounting for approximately 68,200 childcare places in before-, after-school and holiday clubs.
Of the respondents, 93 per cent ran an after-school club, 77 per cent a breakfast club, and 57 per cent a holiday club.
A third of providers surveyed said that if occupancy rates did not quickly bounce back to pre-Covid levels, they would have to close down permanently within three months.
Catherine Wrench, co-director of OOSA, told Nursery World, ‘The situation for many out-of-school club providers is grim, with many on the brink of collapse. Without targeted financial support from the Government, there is a very real risk that the push to get people back to work, to revitalise the economy will be impeded due to a shortage of childcare for working parents of school-aged children.’
She added, ‘Most clubs have only been able to access the furlough scheme, so have had no income to cover ongoing costs, let alone the increased expenditure required to meet the current infection control requirements, since they closed on March 20th.’
The survey also found that very few clubs – just under 11 per cent – had been able to open during lockdown, and these had mainly been for key worker children, so were typically operating with very low numbers.
Many providers reported that they initially opened to support key worker children at the start of lockdown but were forced to close after just a few weeks due to low numbers making it financially unviable. Other providers opened for key worker children but were then forced to close from 1 June – when more childcare settings were supposed to be able to open – because the introduction of new rules about only operating on school sites, only taking children from one school, or having to keep the children in exactly the same bubbles as the school, made it impossible for them to operate.
In addition, fewer holiday clubs had opened than usual: 37 per cent did not open at all, 39 per cent opened but with reduced places, and only 13 per cent have opened as normal.
These ‘worrying’ results, coupled with the lack of guidance until now, has meant that clubs have struggled to assess the viability of reopening, says OOSA.
Updated DfE guidance
The guidance, which includes small changes to the existing document, states that when clubs reopen in September, providers are advised to keep children in small groups of no more than 15 children, and that these groups should remain the same, wherever possible – the groups should not be mixed unless absolutely necessary.
Commenting on the guidance, Ms Wrench of OOSA said, ‘The frustration for providers is not the content of the guidance, which is reasonably workable, but the delay in releasing it, which prevents clubs from being able to plan and put appropriate measures in place. Clubs now have just two weeks until the start of term to sort out appropriate staffing, advertise to parents, implement appropriate infection control measures and try to reorganise their space to accommodate several small groups.’
A DfE spokesperson said, ‘Wrap-around and out-of-school settings play an important role in promoting children’s well-being and providing childcare for parents, which is vital as the country overcomes Covid-19.
‘We’ve updated our guidance to allow them to continue to operate as safely as possible when children return to school in the autumn. This includes specific content on what measures providers should put in place to minimise mixing between different groups of children, and to reduce the risk of infection and transmission of the virus for children, staff and parents who attend their settings.’
