Guidance from DfE for nannies - anyone found any?

[nannynick]

DfE seems to publish guidance for childcare providers on the Early Years Register who have to comply with EYFS but seem to be ignoring other providers who are exempt from that.

Anyone seen any guidance which is specifically for nannies about what can and can't be done during Covid-19 pandemic?

We have:
Ofsted Rolling Update
www.gov.uk/guidance/ofsted-coronavirus-covid-19-rolling-update#early-years-and-childcare

This would be a good place for DfE to publish information for nannies in England. Yet all it says is:
Nannies
If you are a nanny on the voluntary part of the Childcare Register, you should discuss with the family you work for to see if it is appropriate for you to carry on working at this time.

It does have other information which could be useful if it wasn't for us nannies being exempt from the documents they refer to for guidance.

If your paediatric first aid certificate is due to expire, the DfE has set a final deadline of 30 September 2020 for re-qualification of first aid requirements, which applies to certificates expiring on or after 16 March 2020. The Health and Safety Executive has the same date for re-qualification for First Aid at Work (FAW) and Emergency First Aid at Work (EFAW).

This in particular has been bothering me on recent days as I can't get a straight answer from Ofsted, HSE or DfE with regards to if that extension applies to ALL Paediatric First Aid certificates.

You would have thought that would be an easy answer... but it's not as the Ofsted rolling update continues:

The DfE has updated its guidance around early years foundation stage (EYFS) disapplications to state that providers, if asked to do so, should be able to explain why the first-aider has not been able to requalify and demonstrate what steps have taken to access the training. Employers or certificate holders must do their best to arrange requalification training at the earliest opportunity.

So it is to do with EYFS from which nannies are exempt.

40 minutes on the phone to DfE helpline today resulted in being passed back to that document, from which nannies are exempt as it to do with EYFS. Ofsted Facebook Messenger (they are a nice team and respond fairly quickly) seem to be to have an issue with guidance which goes against EYFS.

Ofsted: What we don't want to do is issue guidance that goes against the EYFS, for instance - as that undermines our inspection processes.

Nannies are exempt from EYFS. We can be registered (voluntary part of the Childcare Register in England) but we do not have to be registered. Voluntary registration exists in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

So should we not have our own guidance documents from DfE? Am I the only one who is dissatisfied with the information nannies are getting from Government during this pandemic?

Nannies also get a mention here:
www.gov.uk/guidance/working-safely-during-coronavirus-covid-19/homes
This guidance applies to those working in, visiting or delivering to home environments. These include, but are not limited to, people working in the following areas:
# in home workers – such as repair services, fitters, meter readers, plumbers, cleaners, cooks, visiting childcare providers, and surveyors (this is not an exhaustive list)
# to home services – such as delivery drivers momentarily at the door
This guidance does not directly apply to live-in nannies who spend all their time with one household, or to their employers.

So that is possibly of some help to employers of nannies who are live-out but no help at all to those with live-in nannies as the guidance "does not directly apply".

When the North of England local restrictions document was first published, nannies were forgotten about. Fortunately GovUk did add us nannies in...

www.gov.uk/guidance/north-west-of-england-local-restrictions-what-you-can-and-cannot-do

You can also continue to employ nannies – see guidance on working safely in other people’s homes.

Friends or family who do not live with you cannot visit your home to help with childcare unless they are part of your support bubble. The only people who can help you with childcare in your home are people you live with, people in your support bubble, or registered childcare providers including nannies.

So local lockdown, still perfectly fine to have your live-out nanny work.

Anyone wondering when Government will decide nannies cannot work... never is my guess.

Why am I documenting this here you may wonder. Mumsnet is a great achieve of information. As a regular poster here it has proved invaluable over the past 10+ years (I forget how long I have been a member). It also is a great place to get the views of nannies and parents. If you employ a nanny in the UK you may be interested in knowing what Government is saying about nannies working in private homes. As a nanny you may be concerned about the risk of working and wondering if Government cares.

In late July 2020 a study from Chicago was published which had found that there are high levels of Covid-19 virus in children under age 5. This video explains more: (8min,5s onwards if you want to skip ahead) and the research paper can be read here: jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2768952

The observed differences in median CT values between young children and adults approximate a 10-fold to 100-fold greater amount of SARS-CoV-2 in the upper respiratory tract of young children.

That's the language used in the research paper, so watch the video where Dr John Campbell explains it.

Time will tell if children's viral load is important or not and if they will spread the virus to adults... such as a nanny, nursery staff, teacher and the children's own parents.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_live_events/4001863-Webchat-with-Vicky-Ford-Minister-for-Children-Wednesday-26-August-at-11am

So the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families was asked the question in the Mumsnet Webchat: When will parents employing a nanny and nannies themselves have a section on GovUK which contains specific guidance for them?

There was no reply.

10,813 nannies in England on the Ofsted register, £103 cost per registration, so £1,113,739 paid to Government by nannies in the 12 month period, so £556.869.50 could be said to have been paid in the last 6 months. For which nannies and employers of nannies have received little to nothing from Government about what is safe to do in the workplace.

Ofsted says: "If you are a nanny on the voluntary part of the Childcare Register, you should discuss with the family you work for to see if it is appropriate for you to carry on working at this time."

I don't think our Government wants to give any guidance at all for nannies and their employers, just leaving it up to us.