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

The whole of the Republic of Ireland now find themselves in this situation. Our Creche emailed us last night informing us that full fees will be due even though it is closed. They still need to pay their staff in the way I expect my company to pay me. I work for a big company who allow most people to wfh but there are a number of front line staff who can’t. The company has said they will try everything they can to assist people who have kids at home

Can you speak to the nursery about one of the workers ‘babysitting’ at your house if the nursery closes? The staff will still be being paid & you will still be able to work.
There are going to be difficult times ahead & we need to think creatively.

Why are we more concerned about corporations than about families with children? errr because those that work in the nurseries have families and financial commitments too- they don’t work out of the goodness of their heart!

The whole of the Republic of Ireland now find themselves in this situation. Our Creche emailed us last night informing us that full fees will be due even though it is closed. They still need to pay their staff
Will they. The staff in our nursery will have to claim unemployment benefit. Which will be 200 euro so only half their wage.
Most creche workers do not qualify for sick pay from employers. Normal sickness policy applies. In Ireland you don't get paid for the first 6 days of sickness from the government they've changed it during the outbreak.

I don't know the Irish regs obviously but if we had to make staff redundant we could have a major problem at the other end. I think it would be fine if we managed to re-employ the same people but any who we had to actually replace would mean full safer recruitment, pvg checks etc. Which typically takes a good month. So if we don't pay the staff we'd be in a better financial position as a business but might well have a reduced capacity when we reopen. And obviously we don't want to do that to our staff either.

Signing off sick when you’re not sick can cause a huge burden on colleagues at work. Companies have to continue to pay the ‘sick’ person whilst their colleagues have to pick up the slack. It’s completely unfair.

We have been told we wont get sick pay if we self quarantine even if we have a cough! Honestly they're being complete bastards. Only get full sick pay if we are too poorly to work

@shelby2010 that's a bloody great idea! I think the nursery staff would definitely be up for that.

We're planning on quietly facilitating that too hmmmmminteresting, as long as folk are still able to move around freely

If your employer won’t pay you, and you have to be off to look after your kids, and are still paying childcare in full, I honestly don’t see what other choice you have. It’s not ‘fair’ no, it’s not fair on anyone, but people need to live

Nurseries should not charge full price- maybe an amount to cover their actual costs. Which is also in your interest because if they go under you will not have a nursery to go back to.

@SpaceDinosaur you know that au pairs aren’t sieve labour, right? You do not put an au pair (guideline 20 hours a week) in sole care of 2 pre-schoolers.

Plus - how’s OP going to magic this au pair out of her arse in time?!!

Bottom line, I wouldn’t pay the nursery if I really couldn’t. I still think you should take your paid holiday now, and unpaid leave later in the year to cover holidays, so you have more time to save/plan.

But in the meantime, if something has to give - it’s the nursery fees. If you don’t have the money, you can’t pay the money. Then, I would hope (and it would be hope, not expect) the nursery to use their financial buffer - and if they have none, then to rely on lobbying MPs for small business support. For example, for business loans the government could work with banks to request that up to 3 months loan repayments could be added to the end of the term without penalty except interest. Effectively, forcing the banks to allow payment holidays. It may be pie in the sky that that happens - but I think there’ll be more policy support for small businesses than for individuals.

I feel for unpaid nursery staff, but actually that’s one industry who are most likely to be able to quickly step into nannying work, and quite possibly earn more in a closure!

We're moving this over to the dedicated topic now. Thanks all.

If it comes down to keeping a roof over your head, then yes I would .

Pandemic disease business interruption insurance has been available since the Ebola outbreak. No doubt it's very expensive. A pandemic disease was entirely foreseeable though (many scientists have been warning of the same for years). I'm not sure why nurseries seem to think they are a special case. Many many small businesses will go to the wall over this - hence why l the government has put in place coronavirus business interruption loans. Yes I feel very sorry for nursery staff but the answer is not to expect parents to continue to pay whilst not getting paid themselves (or having to pay for an alternative service). Things are likely going to get much worse for everyone yet.

Haven't read the comments but want to say your employers sound very irresponsible and unhelpful.

I would do whatever you need to do to look after you and yours in this situation. You can self certify for a week of sickness and use that time to see a GP about getting signed off

It's a difficult situation that many people will face. Can you and DH each take some annual leave?

If we go into lockdown then DH and I will both work from home. We are absolutely not allowed to be in charge of minors while working from home. I'm afraid that in these special circumstances I won't be able to abide by that. DH and I will tag team working, get help from MIL where she can and just make sure we work the right number of hours through the day. Employers are going to need to be flexible.

Your work aren’t completely stupid. They’ll realise what’s going on and what you’re doing. What if you get found out that you’re lying?! They are being ridiculous by not letting you work from home though. It’s partly their fault. I have sympathy.

I'm not sure why nurseries seem to think they are a special case.

Because if they fail, parents won't be able to return to work. Even if new providers step in it will take months for them to go through the authorisation process. It's not because they're special, it's because they're a vital service for the economy.

And once again the fact this has been declared a pandemic is not the issue. We'd be covered if it was a different pandemic condition - just not this one. Most nurseries are small businesses, and have bought the industry recommended insurance policies which (if you took the higher level cover) included loss of revenue/business interruption. Implying they've somehow been stingy, negligent or lazy is a bit shit frankly.

When we set up I did look at different policies but a huge number of providers excluded childcare for various reasons (mainly because kids are germ fests and more vulnerable in most epidemics I suspect.) You don't even have a good choice of home insurance policies if you're a childminder.

BTW, I agree that if OPs work can be done from home then not allowing people to do so is pathetic. Some employers seem determine to burn through all the goodwill they have with their staff over this rather than being helpful where possible.

Yes - there must be some decent companies out there given the empty stations etc. I’d be noting this and looking to move on if my company was taking a very hard line without reason.

It’s also that nurseries have been made a special case - excluded from financial help that other businesses have been given, despite their importance. Of course it’s not so long ago that nurseries importance was recognised and brought into the state sector (Surestart), but then dropped again into private.

@NerrSnerr is there a minimum age for a child to be with an au pair?

I had a charming email from work to say on Skelton staff is required for the foreseeable further advising us to visit the job centre for jobseekers allowance.
I won't qualify as DP gets commission on his minimum wage job so basically we're fecked as a couple. 😥