Childcare being removed for key workers

[Mia1415]

My DS has been going to school and his childminder during lockdown.

I was informed yesterday that from 1st June you are only allowed to send children to 1 setting a week (so school or childminder).

Whilst I can understand the logic of not wanting children to mix bubbles I am really annoyed about this as:

• giving key workers 1 weeks notice that they will be loosing childcare isn't really acceptable
• are key workers no longer deemed important?
• It can take up to 14 days to display covid symptoms so allowing 1 week in school, following by a week with a childminder doesn't really prevent anything
• One of the key points of getting children back to schools is so that parents can get back to work. At my school the years that are going back in initially are only doing 2 days a week, so if wraparound care is banned how is that helping people get back to work?
• I can understand this rule a bit more for children that are just returning to school, but not for children that have been going to both throughout lockdown.

(I have emailed my MP and local council about this and I'm awaiting a response).

AIBU?

I'm worried about the opposite. I don't think many holiday clubs etc will open. I'm dreading the summer holidays.

I'm chair of a playscheme that normally does before and after school care and holiday clubs. We won't be open in the summer.

We were asked if we would consider opening for afterschool care, but it seems that we'd only be allowed if we could keep children in their class bubbles. Which isn't possible with the number of staff needed

We were also asked if we'd consider running for keyworker children during the holidays. Which we did look into, but is a major issue for us because we're volunteer led so a lot of the staffing would be people who have children. Between that and trying to keep kids in their individual bubbles that they're in now (there's 3 bubbles of keyworkers atm locally and they don't want them mixed) it just isn't looking possible.

Even if we could do it the local council decided to say if we did open we couldn't use their premesis so on the one hand they asked us to consider if we could, but on the other hand took away the venue we use (and where all our stuff is stored).

@TrustTheGeneGenie that’s what we are looking at for the Autumn if the school is not offering wrap round care.

We had a wrap round care Nanny lined up, but she works in a different pre-school so not sure if she would be able to work for us if current restrictions are in force.

Mine will all be school age so I don’t see what the issue is with a sensible sixth-former/gap year student. All they would need to do is pick up kids/give tea till one of us is home. Plenty of people use au-pairs who would be the same age/experience.

As @nannynick says you need to consider payroll and insurance, but it’s not that complicated. There are companies that offer it. Yes, might be expensive, but if in the short run it’s lose your job or hold on to it for say 6 months till hopefully things are better then it may be worth it if you can.

@Xenia what on earth is a 'UK au pair'? Did you just make it up? I've certainly never heard of this

www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law/au-pairs

@StrawberryBlondeStar we'd probably be ok with no wrap around (just) my concern is more if ds isnt in school full time. Like you say an au pair is of a similar age. Maybe I'll advertise. If I have to become an employer I will. It'll cost me more than a registered childminder though which is a total pain in the arse but needs must and all that.

@Juanmorebeer technically they'd be a "live-in mother's help" if from the UK.

@sandiecheeks then you'd still have to properly employ them and pay them at least minimum wage like a nanny. So basically pay A LOT more than most families are used to doing for their childcare. Plus no option to use childcare vouchers/UC/tax credits to help with the cost because they won't be Ofsted registered.

You'd be an employer, but depending on how much they earn you might not have to register as an employer. Minimum wage for under 21s is only about £6 an hour, and actually if it is an au pair-style arrangement (they live as a family member, join in with meals and leisure activities) minimum wage doesn't apply.

I agree SandieCheeks, it depends how much someone is being paid and that will depend on the arrangement itself and if not live-in then on the age of the person.

I work in a Playclub which is based in a school- we closed as soon as lockdown started-run as wraparound and holiday club- we won’t be able to own because of the no mixing bubbles.Such a shame as so many parents rely on us and as a small business that has been going for around 25 years - it could be we might never financially recover.

Do you have a link please for this? That minimum wage does not apply if a child carer lives with you? At a push we might be able to do this if we shared a room.

It would solve my shift worker issue in the short term anyway.

We're in Scotland so god knows what we will get rules wise but so far wrap around care and holiday clubs have been repeatedly left out of announcements. We're potentially going to have to start contributing to furlough in August but might not be allowed to open until the schools do, and then if we get this one setting crap then we can't anyway.

Not enough kids from each class attend asc to keep them in those bubbles. And no idea yet how it will work anyway - half days, alternate days, half weeks, alternate weeks all been mooted...

@Juanmorebeer you can find info on the gov.uk site.

Juanmorebeer - This part on GovUk. www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law/au-pairs
Also see: www.acas.org.uk/national-minimum-wage-entitlement/who-gets-the-minimum-wage

This guidance is so confusing - are you saying that childminders in England might theoretically be allowed to look after children from more than one household in June? Because the scenario below would be a huge help for us, but so far our childminder has been looking after a two-parent-key-worker child only and my understanding was that our 3 year old ds won't be able to go back until 3, 4 etc. households are allowed to mix...

it’s not going to be much help for anyone who couldn’t work because they had no childcare. The only people it will help are parents who can wfh who have also been looking after their very young children - these parents will now have 2 or 3 days or even more when for 6 hours at least they can get on with things, even if they still have to do the school run and work for a couple of hours after the school run with their child at home again.

Obviously our 3 year old won't be at school, but could he go back to childminder?

@moimichme childminders in England can (if they choose to!) open to all children of all ages from 1st June, if schools do open then too.

moimichme, Childminders in England CAN look after children from more than one household in June.

They run their own business so will do their own risk assessment and determine if they will take more children than they do now.

I don’t understand how the government haven’t really realised their plans will be utterly shit for working parents. There’s no acknowledgement, no guidance to employers re flexibilities etc and this could all go on for months.

I read the guidance for nurseries and it was so cold and clinical. There was bugger all in there about the well-being and happiness of the child once all the soft furnishing, cuddly toys etc had been removed. I do really worry about starting my 1 year old. My 3 year old is so desperate to get back, I don’t think she’ll mind if it’s different. It feels like lots of nurseries have been providing care as normal to key worker children and now will have to change their practices quite significantly.

@Cremebrule I personally think this is just a token staggered return and they will have all kids back as normal.very very quickly

Thanks @nannynick they both refer to au pairs. But au pairs come from overseas? Is it allowed to use an au pair who is a British Citizen? So not here for a cultural exchange.

Hmm, that's very interesting, and thanks for the clarification. She has been asking for full fees so far, but hasn't suggested yet that she might be willing to take any other children back. Perhaps a chat is in order to see what she has in mind re: risk assessment etc.

The Acas link says: you're not a family member but share work and leisure activities and are not charged for meals or accommodation.

So that could fit with someone who is a live-in nanny. The key is that they are participating in family leisure activities. If they are treated as being staff and excluded from things outside of their work hours, then the Accommodation Offset could be used to reduce NMW by a small amount.

@Juanmorebeer you need to read the information about minimum wage
www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage/who-gets-the-minimum-wage
non-family members living in the employer’s home who share in the work and leisure activities, are treated as one of the family and are not charged for meals or accommodation, for example au pairs

So you do have to treat them as a family member rather than a live-in employee. If they are just a live-in employee eg you wouldn't take them out for a meal with you or a family cinema trip then you need to pay minimum wage, but you can offset £57.40 a week for accommodation.
For example, if you employ a 18-20 year old for 25 hours a week work @ £6.50 an hour, provide food and board, minus the accommodation offset, you'd pay them £105.10 so wouldn't need to register as an employer or deduct tax.

I'm a single parent, a nurse. I cannot be furloughed. I have two children at primary school and have been using key worker provision. The hours are now being dramatically cut, no breakfast or after school club provision and closing midweek at lunch time for deep cleaning. Somebody tell me what I'm meant to do now because I honestly have no clue if these plans go ahead from 1st June!