Testing

[Notoironing]

Has anyone’s childcare provider said they won’t admit children without a daily negative lateral flow test result?

Yes but the parents refused en masse so they reduced it to twice a week but no proof necessary.

Oh god I'd die if the nursery came out and said that.

Thank you Wnikat.

Was that a nursery?

I think it’s really worrying, where does it end? Even schools can’t require testing just advise. I’d like to know the legal position.

Early years is a really tricky place to work at the moment. Similar to other areas of education, except absolutely zero chance of social distancing from the children and we quite often get sneezed/coughed on and deal with bodily fluids as the children are so young.

Unfortunately, there is a national shortage of level 3 qualified childcarers, which is the level needed for nurseries to open. I think a lot of nursery managers are really worried about loosing anymore staff as they no it’s going to be a problem to recruit more. Budgets are already stretched massively and settings can’t pay anymore as funding rates won’t allow it. Staff can get paid more with far less responsibility in a lot of others sectors.

I imagine Managers/owners of settings are trying to make it as safe as they can To try to keep staff happy. It’s an awful situation for everyone involved. For staff who feel they are at risk And don’t want to catch COVID and have to isolate for 10 days. For children who are having To have a test every day. For parents who really don’t want to have to test their child and take the risk their child will be asymptomatic. For the owners of the settings who are risking annoying parents who may leave the setting.

But, as always with childcare, if you don’t agree with the terms and conditions of your setting, you are free to leave and find a different one that suits your circumstances better.

This is a huge change to terms of service with no notice. When signing the contract if someone had said in order for your child to come you will have to force them to have a stick up their nose every day I’m sure most people would not have agreed. Requiring tests from small children with no symptoms, against clear government advice, in order to attend? Parents will have to comply or lose their own jobs. There aren’t always other options.
An important value of our society has always been bodily autonomy and something I really feel strongly about. Also I’ve always stuck to contracts and guidance and do resent the creep of new requirements without legal basis or any scientific evidence than what is being requested is actually effective.

I'm a nanny who is a member of a childminder group on Facebook, I've actually seen a post today which says the advice is wrong and they should NOT be requesting daily LFs. Crikey no wonder there's a shortage of LFs

Thank you Landof. It’s clearly in the government guidance that no children of primary age or below need to do lateral flow tests. It’s sometimes advised but never compulsory. It’s not even compulsory for secondary aged pupils just recommended. And never daily!

Advice was released yesterday that anyone who has been in contact with a positive case needs to do a daily LFT for 10 days. That is anyone over the age of 5. The Early year's alliance is trying to seek clarification for those under the age of 5.
As it stands right now if children display any symptoms whilst in my setting I request that the child's collected and taken for a PCR or isolates. As a provider I have to be strict to protect everyone. I am testing daily and some of the parents are due to the nature of their employment.
Whilst I appreciate how frustrating it is for parents as providers we often get last minute notifications of measure we need to implement and advice and guidance changes so often that it's easy for providers to get themselves in a bit of a pickle in understanding all the changes at such short notice. We are trying our hardest to maintain safety measures, provide a service and keep everyone safe and well.

Here's the guidance I received yesterday

Glitter elf thanks for this.

We have done more PCR tests than anyone I know and very happy to do so if children have symptoms. Those rules have been in place since March 2020.
I think it’s totally different being asked for asymptomatic children to do a test every day otherwise not be able to attend.