Childcare for keyworkers

[Nursing83]

My husband and I are both keyworkers work opposite shifts so someone is always around for the kids except one day a week when my mum has them for a while. My mum is 65 still working and in good health. The only other option we have is to get DH to take a shift off which would obviously have a huge impact on his work.

Preschool have offered to stay open although made it very clear that they do not want to and it would be better for them if they could just close but even so they are only offering their normal hours which doesnt help when DH works 8 hours and I work 12.5. None of my friends want to have my kids as I'm an ITU nurse and they are terrified I'm going to bring Covid-19 home and then their kids will end up sick

You should be filling in the forms that councils are sending round. It doesn't necessarily mean your child would go to their usual nursery, they may go to a hub for the day where you can't cover childcare.

At least that's my understanding of it...

That's interesting preschool knew nothing about a form just said they can come 9-3 but the kids will find it hard as it will just be them they'd be better at home as my mum isnt over 70, they'll find it hard to find staff ect so obviously only offering cos they had to. Maybe I'll look at the local council pages cos a (6:30/7 -4) nursery would be perfect to avoid using my mum. Although explaining that to her will be tricky

You should be filling in the forms that councils are sending round.

What forms?

This was only announced yesterday. Things are in a state of total confusion. There are no forms.

There are forms here, it must vary by council. Schools will send out links for key workers to fill in, then each county will allocate childcare provision for those who need it who meet the criteria x if you're both key workers your child will be looked after