Told to go back into office but schools closed

[user1475002412]

I work in an admin role for NHS in a level 3 service ie non essential healthcare setting. I have been working from home (re-deployed as no work in current role as service is closed and will be until August).

Today I had a call from my manager telling me I have to go back into the physical office on Monday doing my old job. My problem is I have a primary aged son and his school is shut until September at the earliest.

The school will not take him as apparently there is no demand. And anyway from July they said they are shut for the summer holidays even for any key workers they may have had.

I don’t know what to do. I am a single parent and can’t leave my son who is 9 home alone everyday to go into work. But my manager is not interested & just expects me to be in work on Monday. Of course she is working from home still.

Any ideas? Should I try and get HR involved? I was thinking of putting all this in an email and copying in my managers manager which will make me very unpopular...

Sick with worry. Not sure what work there is to do as no patients means no need for admin. I was quite happily doing me re deployed role from home and there was plenty of work to do. Apparently me doing this is no longer an option as my manager said she wants me back doing my old job!

The school will not take him as apparently there is no demand.

What do you mean, no demand? Not enough people want spaces so they haven’t reopened at all?

The repetitive 'what would you usually do during the holiday' is becoming very tedious.

People usually use:
Annual leave ( cancelled, already used, restricted)
Grandparents ( not allowed)
Holiday clubs ( many aren't opening and those that are have restricted numbers due to social distancing)
Childminders (as above)

I'm lucky I can WFH but I'm on my knees with stress and exhaustion.
For many parents there just aren't any childcare options at the moment. There is literally nowhere I could send my son if I needed it.

But childcare places arent open? Even school places for keyworkers are only open between 9 and 3. I've been lucky that dh work has been accommodating for him to leave early to fetch dc at 3pm.

OP if you've been working successfully from home up until now then I don't think they can force you into the office with 3 days notice. If your manager is being obstructive then go via HR or the next manager up. You need more time as your usual childcare ie parents isnt currently allowed by the government and it isnt as easy as pp said about just bringing childminders or local authority. You need more time.

We are very lucky here, School is open for Key Workers 07.45-16.15 & our usual holiday club is open now in term time, until 18.00pm.

DD will be going to holiday club in Aug, as School will be closed.

@Higherthana5 Are you in the UK? In England? The DfE guidance currently states that holiday clubs can't operate and guidance will be issued by 4 July about whether or how they can operate during the holidays. What holiday club is running in your area and are they insured?

I would be amazed if insurance companies will cover holiday clubs opening when schools can't.

Put it all in writing and wait for a response. Firstly it's too short notice. Secondly, if you can work from home you should, thirdly what are the social distancing measure in place in terms of returning? Can they even fit you all in together?

Happened me last week, barely any notice. I sent HR an email briefly explaining that I had no childcare options and was trying my best to source some and I would be WFH until then. They said "fair enough, we had to be seen to be encouraging people back' and that was that.

Give that a try

Our holiday club is running, but only part time. You can either book 2 days or 3 days not a full week.

Thankfully I'm WFH so no issue and as DH had so many rest days cancelled hes ended up with 5 weeks worth of rest days to take so he's off over summer.

How anyone is meant to work when all the childcare provisions are closed or reduced I'll never know! Telling the OP to just do what she would do usually is absurd because clearly what she used before isnt available or she wouldnt be panicking!