Schools closed for the Queen’s funeral

[Notme1980]

First off, Queen Elizabeth II was an amazing ruler and an inspiration, we are a forces family and my husband has served her for 30 plus years.

but - I do not want the schools to be closed for her funeral (or for any reason at all), I want us to do what I believe she would have done, press on.

Did you feel that the Jubilee BH prioritised the need to be part of history (or to celebrate something of historical note) over the actual needs of people?

Keep hospitals running like normal, keep schools open for those whose parents work in hospitals. If other employers want to open and work, say a restaurant, and they have willing staff, let them.

Did the JBH get announced a week in advance and have consultation days and surgeries that needed to be moved, or was it planned for ages in advance?

I agree…..that the lack of notice and inability for people to plan ahead is what many are struggling with. I get that. But also, unlike Christmas or regular events or the one-off we know are coming years ahead, a death and funeral really can’t be planned for in terms of giving heaps of notice.

I guess that although the lack of notice is annoying many people and causing difficulties…in fact people in reality do understand, that there simply couldn’t have been a way to give longer notice of a funeral.

I also think that in reality, few people really think that a 70 year reign shouldn’t have a public holiday…that even those who aren’t monarchists can acknowledge that something key in society (if unimportant to themselves) has ended, and that for the nation as a whole it’s important.

These moans and groans about childcare etc tell me something about the change in society….and away from there being ‘society’ and a move towards a more individual world. Most still think community and society are important and that big national days like this funeral are important, but some people have lost that sense of community and society. Individualism reigns (haha…realise the pun) for them. It’s all about the personal impact on them and that’s all they can see or think about…for some it’s impossible to see a bigger picture or to think about anything other than their personal impact.

I suspect this is part of broader social trends which have been underway for several decades now. It’s also probably a function of the polarising of society. Significant sized groups feel increasingly marginalised, often as a result of their economic position. The cost of living crisis has put extra pressures on lots of people so that they are just about coping, but the idea of possibly losing a day of pay or having to find and pay for childcare just tips them over the edge when everything is so finely balanced. So the upset isn’t actually really about a national day or a Bank Holiday or a public day for a funeral of a 70 year monarch, but about the stresses in their own lives. Sadly, these stresses are very real and ongoing and likely to get worse. They aren’t caused by the Monarch but are part of wider societal problem of growing inequality and factors pushing people to the brink. And there’s no real answer in sight for any of them.

So your objection - as I have said before - is NIT about why the BH is happening, not about whether it us ‘worthy’ of a BH, not about how people spend it, but about the fact that a funeral BH is inevitably on an uncertain date.

The Jubilee Bank Holiday was announced two years beforehand:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/extra-bank-holiday-to-mark-the-queens-platinum-jubilee-in-2022

So I’m pretty confident there was adequate time to make sure patients weren’t impacted like they will be next Monday.

We're letting our heating engineers have the day off.

I've had the horrible job of ringing their customers to re-arrange the appointments they had on 19th September.

60% of the customers were fine, they understood why we were rearranging their appointments. 40% gave me hassle and vitriol . It's like this 40% expect to have the day off but don't expect anyone else to have the day off! It's not a jolly holiday, we're not slacking off for the sake of it.

Why is it that schools have the responsibility to provide that childcare? Would you also say that nurseries with pre-school children of NHS staff also have to open and oay their staff BH rates?

If a hospital chose to, could it hire / borrow a venue - even a school hall - and employ childcare professionals, sports coaches or even volunteers to offer care from 9-3? That way, the childcare could be provided for those who wanted to to work?

Scotland.

In any ‘long term plan fir Bank Holidays’, though, an extra one fir the Queen’s funeral was inevitable, just of unknown date. There would inevitably have been one day of inconvenience - just nobody knew when it would be.

Because it’s school, and kids are school age. It’s like Covid lockdowns. Yes, child care should also keep going for NHS staff.

Why can’t normal child care services just keep going on that day? How does it help the NHS function if it has to somehow become a child care provider with a week’s notice too?

There’s that word again, “inconvenience”. It’s not “inconvenient” to have potentially life saving/changing surgery postponed, particularly because it’s been deemed more important that people watch a ceremony on TV.

The patient is ready.
The surgeon is free.
The theatre is free.
There has been no natural disaster.
There is still power to the building.
There are plenty of staff.

But the Queen’s coffin is on the move between 10am and 11am, so sorry for the inconvenience!

Schools, under the exceptional circumstances of Covid, became childcare for essential workers, including during holidays. They did so as part of their contribution to a national emergency.

To therefore expect that they will continue to provide this service - adding it on to all of the other health , nutrition and social care responsibilities they have already taken on over the years in addition to their core education role - is obviously unreasonable and smacks of entitlement.

Thanks for posting this as I’ve been thinking similar.

The terrible underfunding of legal aid and the problems which have reached crisis point in terms of cases having to wait years to reach a conclusion and barristers leaving the criminal bar, for example, have been building up for decades and have been in the news if people care to take an interest. Generally, though, they don’t seem to give a toss, and that indifference is exploited by the government and the problems get worse.

So forgive me for being just a tiny bit cynical when, for example, a poster says they are heartbroken about a pps tribunal client whose case is going to have to be adjourned. I wonder if that same poster has been coming out in support of the barristers during their recent strikes? Hmmm. (I’m using this issue as an example because it’s the one I have a particular interest in, but you could make the same argument about the NHS I suppose).

Seems to me there’s a lot of cherry picking here, people using issues to have a pop at the RF.

So it’s unreasonable and entitled to ask schools to do what they were always going to be doing until Friday? I’m not suggesting they do anything extra, just do what they were always going to be doing on the 19th of September up until a few days ago, carry on like normal.

It’s a Bank Holiday-schools are closed, you just need to accept that. Expecting them to open on a Bank Holiday is not going to happen.

I think a lot of parents will appreciate being able to have their children at home with them on a day that, for many across the world, is considered quite a momentous occasion. I do appreciate how hard it is to work everything out last minute as we've had to do so ourselves on several occasions, but it would be wrong for them not to close for the day in this case.

People are inconsistent in their thoughts about this.

Some want a paid day off work, but also want all services up and running….without thinking about the fact those workers then need to work.

They forget that other people want something else. Lots are being told they will need to work, but they feel ‘cheated’ when others are having the day off.

People complain about the sudden nature and lack of time to plan ahead…..but everyone knows deaths and funerals don’t give advance notice.

People have all kinds of elaborate and complex hybrid suggestions of undivudyals and businesses choosing if to be open or not, or certain services being prioritised ….without thinking really about those workers.

Essentially, lots of people really only see it all from their own point of view and what works for them. They don’t spit that it’s impossible to please everyone on this and a central decision has to happen.

Honestly, it’s a ‘one-off’ in its lack of notice nature. The last one like this was 1965. Charles is likely to live 20 years or more. There won’t be another short notice one for another 20 years. Spare a thought for the countless individuals who will have worked 50+ hrs already putting together plans to make the Monday happen and who will work 100+ hrs before the funeral to make it all happen. But of course, lots of people can only think about themselves and the personal impact and have zero interest in anyone else.

Are the ones complaining that children should be at school also are the ones that book term time holidays and take their kids away? 🤔

So it’s unreasonable and entitled to ask schools to do what they were always going to be doing until Friday? I’m not suggesting they do anything extra, just do what they were always going to be doing on the 19th of September up until a few days ago, carry on like normal.

It cannot be ‘like normal’ when you only have the children of some NHS workers in school - it is childcare pure and simple.

You have not extended your offer of childcare to teachers, who would then face their own challenges as many have children themselves.

You are asking schools to break their contractual obligations to their staff - whose contracts allow them BH.

Consider - had Covid not happened, with schools stepping in to fill so many of the gals this opened up, from food to social service intervention to health to childcare - would you EVER have suggested this? It seems to me that the more schools take on to paper over the cracks in society and in other services, the more is expected and taken for granted,

I accept it’s going to happen and nothing I say or do will change anything.

But it would be nice if people examined their bizarre need to be “part of history” - which if everyone was honest with themselves will really just be most of the nation sat in front of the telly bored witless for hours - means that there will be a very real impact on people who were relying on that day.

Yes, it’s only one day. But for the hundreds of thousands of people with appointments for that day, it’s important and will be much more than an “inconvenience”.

This.

non- outcry for the extra day for the Jubilee bank holiday

There was loads orf outcry when it was first announced as people had things planned for the bank holiday Monday.

You have not extended your offer of childcare to teachers, who would then face their own challenges as many have children themselves.

Yep, same for teachers. Include them as well.

You are asking schools to break their contractual obligations to their staff - whose contracts allow them BH

If you can announce a BH a week in advance, why can’t there be special employment rules announced for it too?

Consider - had Covid not happened, with schools stepping in to fill so many of the gals this opened up, from food to social service intervention to health to childcare - would you EVER have suggested this?

Of course. Covid just demonstrated the need to come up with a workable system that allowed healthcare workers to keep going. Covid demonstrated the impact of short term decisions on long term health, making this even more important. We know that patients had care delayed, and that impacted long term outcomes for non-Covid illnesses, and that was when dealing with the strain of a pandemic. But this is self- inflicted pain because it’s been deemed important staff get the day off because of “history”.

I don’t understand why some are complaining that it’s a lack of notice siting two years notice was provided for the Jubilee. It’s a funeral! How exactly was more notice suppose to be provided for that?!

Regardless of personal feelings around the monarchy we all live in a constitutional monarchy system of govt and our head has just died. It seems entirely appropriate to make that a national holiday. It’s also been left as always at discretion of employers as to how that actually works and doesn’t not mean every business has to close (and clearly many people police nhs care staff the list is long!) will be working as normal.