To get a drs note for stress due to covid-19 and childcare issues

[Hmmmmminteresting]

I feel sick I'm so stressed!

Have 2 x dc in full time nursery. Our fees are £1400 a month which is crippling for me and dh as our other bills are expensive too.
Today nursery have announces that should they be forced to close (which they think they will very soon) we will still be charged in full.

Also today, my work have said that they will not be allowing any working from home and if we have to go off to look after dc due to school or nursery closures we will be allowed dependency leave but it will be unpaid.
DH has asked his boss tonight and been told the same. Ds1 starts school in september and we have all of our annual leave booked already for the year to ensure we have holidays covered.
We have no help from family around here at all.
Would I be unreasonable to aim to go to the doctors in the next week and get signed off, just so I can get sick pay (I get 12 weeks paid sick leave a year). I'm so stuck and I know I wont sleep tonight!

Any better ideas I'm very open to

Op what would happen if your work took the view that your actions were grounds for dismissal. Then you would be far worse off.

I’d think very carefully. In your shoes I would take leave if the nursery closed. Then think about the school year later on. There will be solutions for you then eg child minder, holiday care.

And although your work has said no one can work from home, if they are faced with the situation where many many people need leave because of caring issues they may change their minds.
Also if you or your DC or both get Coronavirus you may need your sick leave for that.
I’m sorry you are in this situation but there are solutions other than fraud and you need to explore those

StatisticallyChallenged I’ve just written to my MP about nursery closure but also about the lack of guidance re children for the 7 day isolation issue and the impact on working parents.

Can you take annual leave?

If i'm forced to wfh if schools/nursery close then I expect to receive some pay from my employer but I still plan to pay the nursery if required too.

People can't expect the op to be off work with no pay & still pay for the nursery. She needs to be paid something in order to pay that bill.

Take them out of nursery until they are older and get an au pair

I can’t believe how many people seem to think OP can both take unpaid leave and continue to pay £1400/month for a service she isn’t receiving.

and berate her for complaining about it 🙄

If you don't get paid then nursery doesn't get paid. You will have to find a new nursery when you go back to work though. Definitely no sick note since you areMy actually sick.

Great CremeBrule, hopefull some others will too.

Check your terms and conditions on your contract at nursery. We aren’t allowed to charge if we withdraw care.

Would I be unreasonable to aim to go to the doctors in the next week and get signed off, just so I can get sick pay (I get 12 weeks paid sick leave a year). I'm so stuck and I know I wont sleep tonight!

yabvu. you are saying yourself you are not sick. it's a tough situations for loads of people all over the place. We will be using our savings and getting a loan. Why can't you do the same? throwing weeks if sickies aren't really acceptable.

@SpaceDinosaur and what will they do when they need childcare before the child is old enough for an au pair (or do they take a baby to work with them?)

pus even considering wasting GP time for this when it is so hard to get an appointment for those who genuinely need it, not those trying to obtain sick pay fraudulently.

Self quarantine , full sick pay

Your nursery will rapidly rethink this if it comes to it. Simply put you and many other parents would be forced to break v contracts and give notice/not pay. The government will have to come up with some kind of compensation plan for those small businesses that would bankrupt due to government ladvice/emergency legislation...

I wouldn't be paying nursery a penny if they are closed and unable to care for my children

snappycamper Oh yes you would be 😂

And OP, yes, YABU. You have said yourself you aren’t stressed or anxious so you have no right to waste the GPs time and fraudulently claim money.

will be using our savings and getting a loan. Why can't you do the same?

Yep because everyone has thousands in savings or is able to borrow them.

I think anyone who will continue to be paid normally should continue to pay full nursery fees so that the people who spend hours each day caring for the most precious thing in your world can still pay their bills. Obviously if your pay is reduced because of the virus then that is another matter and a really difficult situation.

what are all these jobs you can take babies & toddlers with you? What about GPs, surgeons, police, teachers, paramedics?

OP no one says they wish they spent more time at work on their death bed.
Your first loyalty is towards your family.

I would take this thread down though. There is quite a lot of identifying information albeit circumstantial should work colleagues happen upon it.

What about if all GPs in your practice took the same approach and then there are none to write you a sick note.

You are thinking in anticipation. Yes the situation is stressful, but in such situation, anything can change one day at a time, so the strategy to get through it is also to take decisions one day at a time.

As said, if you sign yourself off sick even before the nursery makes the official decision to close, you are risking building a bad reputation at work with the effect lasting much longer than the coronovirus.

Keep going until nursery does close. Then look into an arrangement with your boss. Maybe he and your OH's boss will agree to alternate days working from home. And of course you shouldn't have to pay the nursery if they are closing. Check what's in your contract in case of force majeure.

Just a thought it is hasn't been suggested. Could you approach a member of staff at the nursery and see if they would agree to look after your children at your home if nursery close (and most likely will say they won't be staff their full entitlement). It could be a win-win arrangement.

if it helps op my nursery has said under guidance from the LA that if they need to close they will not charge but if my child needs to self isolate they will charge as the setting is open.

Yep because everyone has thousands in savings or is able to borrow them.

oh, so it's ok to commit fraud. OP also has AL, so has her DH. This would give a combined 2 months. Cannot believe that some people it is acceptable to waste GP time to obtain a fraudulent sick note in order to save money. MN is an odd place at times .

I didn't say it was acceptable to commit fraud & my first question was whether the op could use holiday or not. However plenty of people don't have enough savings or the ability to access funds. The fact remains the op can't be berated for not wanting to pay other people's wages when she is not being paid.

do you have childcare to pay @curlsnotfrizz & if you have to stay off work what pay will you get? How long can your savings sustain you? People have already seen the value of some of their investments drop significantly in the last few days.

I pretty much agree with your EmrysAtticus; we're going to be going down the route of reduced fees as a retainer in the event of closure but we've also said for parents to contact us if this will cause hardship. The reduced fees won't cover the bills but combined with our reserves, SSP cover (if they ever work out how it actually works), the small grant (by fluke we are entitled, most asc aren't) then we might just about manage to scrape it. It depends how long it goes on for. Our fees are also obviously lower than nurseries which means it's less likely to cause hardship.