Friend claiming to be key worker

[lockdownrules]

So my friend and her husband work but aren't key workers. Here in Scotland after Christmas nurseries and schools closed unless key workers.
She says she's been told she can still send child to nursery so the nursery is lying for her and claiming she's a key worker to get place. It's a council nursery.
AIBU to be annoyed my child can't get a place. My husband is a key worker but I'm not but wfh full time with a toddler and my nursery say no place! Obviously I'm just jealous but it's so unfair some can play the system like this

She may not be a key worker, her child may come under the vulnerable category (and she’s not likely to tell you that).

My cousin is a social worker, a lot of her job can be done from home, but her kids still go to school because she can't do her job effectively and with any sense of professionalism to her clients with a nine and eleven year old at home.

@Bikingbear
Apologies

@Woeismypants
You’ve exposed yourself. MN has even deleted your awful post when included in other poster’s posts.

Time for a name change, although you’ll be showing your true colours again before long.

Karma.

For childcare purposes though they are not key workers who have to work “out” of the home which is one of the needed elements to be eligible for key worker childcare provision.

@Ginkypig working out of the home is not part of the criteria.

Some jobs from home still cannot be done with children around. A couple I know are a good example - he works for the bereavement team for a bank. So dealing with sensitive issues and can’t be constantly interrupted by children. She is a psychiatrist, so again can’t be interrupted constantly by kids.

Morally dubious though I would say

Nope.

It's been explained several times on the thread. Do yourself a favour and read what people have told you about what banking staff do and how viral they are.

My organisation is involved in the Covid relief schemes. Be a bit of an own goal if the govt tried to put in relief schemes and then all the staff couldn't work because their kids needed home schooling!

The only two things it affects seem to be access to school/childcare and getting a test more quickly. What's so morally dubious about that?

We're not claiming to be heros or getting extra pay or anything. Just those two things. And most of us won't use the latter, very many won't use the former.

KW status obviously needs to be clarified by our useless government.

School, nurseries, etc need to be made accountable for checking eligible KW status.

CF who take the piss will get their comeuppance in time, one way or another. You know who you are. Narcissists who believe the World evolves around them. No empathy, shame or morals.

Il get my coat, as you were people

@parlourpalm nothing dubious if they have roles involved in dealing with essential finances which has to continue regardless. People need to be able to access their money, pay their bills, etc etc
Many of these roles involve working specified hours for the purpose of meetings, shifts and cannot be done with young children in the background

Another women, she works in a call centre, for a tv company gets to send her child into the hub. I don’t understand how working for sky makes you a key worker.

Sky and virgin call centres cover broadband support as well. How much work do you think everyone wfh (key worker or not) would get done if their internet went down and there was no one to fix it?

I know it's been said repeatedly but Bank Workers are Key workers.

I'm also in scotland and work in Banking, most of my team are WFH. Minimum still travelling to the office as can't do everything from home.

Still key workers if WFH. Especially if customer facing. Imagine you call your bank about a Bounce Back Loan for your business or a mortgage repayment holiday because you are struggling, or you are vulnerable because of a life event because of cancer or relationship breakdown or one of the many other ways in which life can thrown a spanner in the funicular
Works aside from covid.

Do you want to hear someone being distracted by their kids at home whilst you have a sensitive, difficult personal conversation about your finances? With your data? Potentially peppa pig and kids shouting in the background. Or do you want that person to focus entirely on you, to help you and talk to you.

Financial industry is supporting economic infrastructure as well as actual people on a 1 to 1 basis.

Keyworkers.Essential.

I work in financial services, but my workplace rightly concluded that we were not key workers. It should be decided by role, not industry. Not fair to genuine key workers otherwise.

Throwing in my tuppence, I'm classed as a key worker and I do admin from home as its for essential services (energy supply in my case). Bank staff/financial services are classed as key work as they are essential services.

Cannot believe so many parents want to send their children in if they don't have to.Do they not care about the risk to their children nevermind the poor staff.

So many selfish ppl out there.

I work in a big bank. Only key workers are the ones in branches who are needed to keep the network open or certain payment related roles. We were issued a list of which roles were key and which weren't but I'm fairly sure many are playing the system and it really winds me up. We are two full time workers at home with a 3 and 6 year old and it's a real juggle.

@Ilovegreentomatoes

Cannot believe so many parents want to send their children in if they don't have to.Do they not care about the risk to their children nevermind the poor staff.

To be fair I don’t think most do, we had all of this the first time around and in a school of ~400 only approx 7 children were in for the first week of lockdown. The numbers climbed as employers started demanding more from workers (either to be in work or not to have kids in the background when working from home) - particularly when employers know that their staff are classed as keyworkers. I had this from my (key) workplace in June, but still couldn’t get wrap around care - there was none - so had to dash out of the door at 2.30 and make up the time at the weekends and holidays.

@Ilovegreentomatoes but do that many really play the system? There are multiple pp who said they were eligible to send children but chose not to and juggled it themselves. Very few attended my children's setting for the first lockdown and those that did genuinely needed care so parents could continue working. We were all terrified of sending children in too but had no choice in order to continue working

Like all systems (particularly ones that had to be created so quickly), there will be loopholes that few can exploit to abuse but the overwhelming majority play by the rules. Unfortunately many on MN create their own rules to add to those the government have issued then proceed to judge when others don't conform without knowing the full picture

@Ilovegreentomatoes or maybe for many parents the risk of not being in school outweighs the risk of being in..

@parlourpalm individuals and companies still need loans, mortgages, business finance (especially in struggling sectors), access to funds, payments processed and so on. Presumably you will still expect this to exist post pandemic. Far more dubious would be if bank staff were furloughed at tax payers' expense.

@VashtaNerada Do both parents have to be key workers for a place now? That was always the rule, wasn’t it? Keyworker places are for children who cannot be cared for at home because every adult is an active

I know of a key worker whose wife was a furloughed hairdresser and had her kids in school. She had time on her hands while others struggled to wfh and home school at the same time. Friends who worked for NHS and in an educational role were told there was no room for their children as hubs full.

I can’t believe we are facing the same shit situation again. Think everyone will have their elbows out for keyworker places again.

Why can’t they go to blended / rota or p/t schooling instead so it’s safer AND fairer?

Why can’t they go to blended / rota or p/t schooling instead so it’s safer AND fairer?

When schools are closed for safety reasons, being fair to individuals isn't a consideration. The only consideration was to ensure that all adults who have roles essential to ensuring society is able to function during a pandemic have childcare so they can continue those roles.

I agree other options do need to be considered to ensure schools can operate safely and minimise the spread but provisions will need to be made to ensure that school is available for key worker children for full school hours to ensure they can continue to work (FWIW I do not have school aged children so nothing to gain from this personally)

I work in a big bank. Only key workers are the ones in branches who are needed to keep the network open or certain payment related roles.

Your employer has decided that because the govt definition doesn't go to that level of granularity.

@riddles26 it’s just so frustrating the Govt policy seems to be either open to all or open to very few. Safety of staff and pupils is paramount which is why the Govt refusing to consider other models of delivery e.g threatening Greenwich with legal action is frustrating!

In March it was obvious to all who were key workers by May return there was a lot more flex in which children got to return in person & which yrs were cherry picked, leaving others to fend for themselves at home.

March 2020 it was unprecedented from January 2021 it isn’t.

You will be glad OP that the daily mail have picked up this story!! OOPs..