Grandparents exempt from local lockdown rules

[Deyes999]

I just read a story on Sky news that Grandparents or childcare providers both formal and informal can continue to do so in areas that are in lockdown. Surely that is putting some of the most vulnerable people at risk in already high risk areas? I know it's many people's lifelines for going to work etc and I totally understand that part but I just think after all the stories in the last few months saying about how we should be protecting vulnerable or older relatives it's odd to now put grandparents in this position.

Yes you think iabu
No you agree

There are other types of childcare available

Have you tried finding childcare with no warning, that is free (or low priced especially if on low income) and readily available for every day you need it?

At present many ASC have no spaces or haven't been able to reopen. Most have restricted numbers currently.

At my school the ASC was run by an external agency and can't restart in our school due to restrictions within our building. Their new location is fine but they have restricted numbers, lower than previously.

Childminders are already hard to find for AS care in many areas. They are currently much trickier to find spare places at and have long waiting lists.

My sister would have no choice but to not work if my parents couldn't look after my nephew. She tried his school but it has a huge waiting list already. All the local childminders have no space. There is no nurseries etc that take year 3s that have spaces for after school care near school. They don't earn enough to employ a nanny. They were also given two days warning that it was coming into place. Of course they, and most working parents in a similar situation, ignored the rules as they had no choice.

Hence the government's u turn on this.

And do remember that not all grandparents are 80+ year old and previously shielded. My parents are under 70 and healthy and weren't even classes as vulnerable, let alone extremely vulnerable and shielded.

I'm of the view that if contact with the most vulnerable is reduced or minimised, that will help all of us. If it genuinely works for all parties and there's no easy alternative, just take extra precautions, eg keep away from everyone else.

Absolutely, the claim about other childcare being available is very out of touch. The ICM published findings earlier this month showing that 40% of working mothers of children under 10 either couldn't get or didn't know if they could get all the childcare hours they needed this month.

www.theguardian.com/money/2020/sep/03/childcare-crisis-risks-pushing-women-out-of-workforce-says-tuc

This decision from the government has taken place in the context of a childcare crisis. You have no hope of understanding it if you aren't aware of this.

Most grandparents are in the vulnerable category.

My parents don't hit any of the vulnerable category, let alone extremely vulnerable.

Most of the grandparents who pick up from my school are under 70. Obviously I don't know their health conditions so maybe they could be vulnerable that way.

I hit the vulnerable category due to health conditions and medication. I currently work in a school with 270 children with no SDing and no masks, etc in class rooms that are overcrowded and windows only open a fraction.

Not all grandparents are elderly and/or vulnerable. Many are not. Great grandparents will most likely be, but not grandparents.

My DM has been having DS again since 1st June after not having him from March til the end of May. DM is 65 and in excellent health

I'm NHS and DH is self employed in a manual trade so no furlough or WFH for either of us. We both worked throughout although I used a lot of annual leave to cut my hours and he filled in where he could so I could work

Due to using up most of my annual leave during the main lockdown, unless I quit my job (paid childcare wasn't financially possible for us not to mention we'd never have found anywhere anyway), we've had no choice but to break the rules

We're in Leicester so it's never been allowed here but DM was happy to have him back. I'm just relieved we're no longer risking a fine if anyone grassed us up

My FIL is 68, a very ‘young’ 68, but he is vulnerable and pretty much locked himself away during the height of the problem.

Prior to all this he provided us with 1 or 2 days (depending on my shifts) for before and after school care for my 6 year old.

We have made it absolutely clear to him that if he no longer wants to do this (won’t be required until November) then he must be honest and tell us. We have told him that if he doesn’t feel it’s safe then we completely understand and we will just have to make other arrangements.

I think he will keep doing it though as he misses seeing his grandchildren very much.

Treat adults like adults, I guess? My parents used to love looking after the kids occasionally and now probably never will again. 🤷

The official guidance has just been published

www.gov.uk/government/news/childcare-to-be-exempt-from-interhousehold-mixing-restrictions-in-local-areas-of-intervention

As others have said, not all grandparents are old or in the vulnerable category. My parents are both in their 50s, no underlying health conditions and work in healthcare. It is ridiculous to say that looking after my son poses more risk to them than their work.
Secondly not all work is amenable to options such as childminders or nurseries. I’m a shift worker and my DH has on calls and works away at times. Pre-Covid the plan had been for my mum to have my son on the odd occasion that my night shifts clash with my husbands on-calls/time away. Normally rare as he normally swaps on calls if needed but Covid rules for his workplace mean that isn’t allowed. To know that she would now be able to continue to do this for us is vital as it is even more likely to occur. My only other option would be to quit my job, not sure that would be particularly helpful to the public given I work in healthcare.

*honestly don't think we should be throwing grandparents under a bus by continuing to ask them to look after the grandchildren.

There are other types of childcare available.*

Not enough. A significant chunk of childcare is done by grannies grandparents so that women parents can go to work. If they are prevented from doing it, where is all the extra capacity going to magically spring from? Either we put the grannies (and by extension the grandads) at risk, or a large number of parents- in the majority of cases women- will have to quit their jobs. Rolling back decades' worth of advancement of women and putting them in an even more financially vulnerable position.

TLDR; we can choose to fuck over older women or younger women.

I’d hate to see anyone coerced into a situation they felt uncomfortable with but let all the adults decide for themselves m, anything else is extremely patronising, presumably no one is lashing a papoose on to a 90 year and kicking them
Out the door

@powershowerforanhour

*honestly don't think we should be throwing grandparents under a bus by continuing to ask them to look after the grandchildren.

There are other types of childcare available.*

Not enough. A significant chunk of childcare is done by grannies grandparents so that women parents can go to work. If they are prevented from doing it, where is all the extra capacity going to magically spring from? Either we put the grannies (and by extension the grandads) at risk, or a large number of parents- in the majority of cases women- will have to quit their jobs. Rolling back decades' worth of advancement of women and putting them in an even more financially vulnerable position.

It’s a terrible dilemma, I agree. However, if a grandparent catches the virus they could become seriously ill or even die. They won’t be able to do childcare then, will they?

However, if a grandparent catches the virus they could become seriously ill or even die. They won’t be able to do childcare then, will they?

Again, assuming grandparents are elderly or vulnerable.
My mum is far more likely to catch it from her NHS job (indeed, that is where she caught it) than from her toddler grandson who doesn’t go anywhere else.
Equally, my MIL is far more likely to catch it from the class of 30 7 year olds she teachers.

Anyone could be come seriously ill and statistics tell us that the older you are the more likely it is, you will become seriously ill. A boffin on BBC was talking about the over 50s and said that this age group and over are being offered the flu vaccine this year, because of the added danger from Covid.

Actually I imagine quite a lot of grandparents are not in the category - I am in my early 40s and my parents are not in that category.

It is far better to allow an individual assessment of this rather than not allow it at all?

And it isnt just grandparents though is it. Before DD started high school one of her friends came round after school between 1-3 times a week (always 1 the other 2 were if school clubs were cancelled) so her Mum could work. This too would be allowed. Quite a few parents at school have these kind of arrangements.

I think part of the problem here is that we see Grandparents as automatically these little old ladies with a tight permed hair - something we havent seen I dont think since the 80s.

The average age of becoming a grandparent for the first time is 50 and the average age of grandparents is 64 - so under the 70 threshold

I’d hate to see anyone coerced into a situation they felt uncomfortable with but let all the adults decide for themselves m, anything else is extremely patronising, presumably no one is lashing a papoose on to a 90 year and kicking them
Out the door
Exactly I think some people have this perception of frail granny looking after all the grandchildren when it's not it's the 50 -60 odd year old fit healthy grandparents doing the odd school run to help working parents .
Yes I get that the older you are the more at risk you are but younger people who have health problems/ overweight etc are also at risk so let people make their own judgment nobody is forcing grandparents.

Being over 70 is not the cut off age for becoming seriously ill. I think too many people are wearing blinkers over this matter.

Yes many grandparents aren’t over 70, but they are still at risk.

My parents have been my childcare since DD was born 11 years ago. My Mum just about coped with the lockdown and not seeing them but honestly FOR HER the risk of not seeing them at all for the next 6 months to her mental health and well being is far higher than the risk of getting Coronavirus.

This isnt an edict that you MUST use Grandparent childcare (indeed as I said it doesnt just cover Grandparents) but allows families to make a decision which is best for them. Which is entirely the right thing to do

I'm in Greater Manchester. Ours (in 70s) aren't exempt from lockdown rules so I don't know where you read that.

@Sertchgi123

Anyone could be come seriously ill and statistics tell us that the older you are the more likely it is, you will become seriously ill. A boffin on BBC was talking about the over 50s and said that this age group and over are being offered the flu vaccine this year, because of the added danger from Covid.

Yes I know. That’s my I said my mum and my MIL in their 50’s are more likely to catch it and become ill from their workplaces... a hospital and a school.

@bellinisurge

www.gov.uk/government/news/childcare-to-be-exempt-from-interhousehold-mixing-restrictions-in-local-areas-of-intervention

it came out yesterday for areas in local lockdowns (and perhaps soon to be all of us)

@bellinisurge

I'm in Greater Manchester. Ours (in 70s) aren't exempt from lockdown rules so I don't know where you read that.

There was an announcement yesterday from Matt Hancock that informal childcare arrangements such as grandparent childcare will now be exempt from the ‘no household mixing’ rules in local lockdown areas. It was been widely reported.

Thanks @Quartz2208 . Mine's older than 4. So it doesn't count for us.

It’s under 14, not 4.