Still no sign of who key workers are or two parent rule?

[Drogonssmile]

As an NHS worker whose husband earns double what I earn, if the rumours are true and both parents need to be a "key worker" for children to attend school or nursery, then I'll be off from Monday and on unpaid leave for the foreseeable future.

The idea struck me though, and I wouldn't do it myself, what is to stop someone in my situation going off sick with stress due to trying for sort out childcare etc and getting paid full pay for 6 months? (NHS sick pay).

Why do people seem to think that their family finances trump being a key worker?

This stinks of men thinking childcare isn’t their job. Thousands of people are taking unpaid leave because their jobs just don’t exist for the time being. All these “can’t possibly work from home” men will have to find a way. I imagine their companies will find a way to let them work from home when half their workforce don’t come in.

The schools could have closed completely and taken no children. They’ve stayed open to take a tiny minority of key worker children purely as a safe place to leave them. Not so your fella can go to work.

Why are all these schools sending letters and emails out before the govt stance was clarified? Are they going to backtrack now if it becomes clear that only one parent needs to be a key worker??

Our school was very clear. They have no idea what the stance is but would we consider our job a key worker. They seemed sure that it would be a two parent family thing.

@olivesandpecans do you have a list of the professions please

They want your husband to stay home. That is the point of closing schools.

They're sending letters out because it starts on Monday and they have to plan. Otherwise all school staff need to he in too. And that is fewer people staying home.

If it's only one key worker there will be scores still in school, my dh earns far more than me but is wfh and will supervise children, the virus doesn't care about the Bill's getting paid, we're all screwed financially, its crap, but thousands will die if we don't get this sorted quickly. We've all got to step up.

It's horribly unsettling. No school or council workers I know have any idea what's happening for schools or key workers, which children we'll have or where we'll be.

No teacher is going to want to be going somewhere on Monday morning without really knowing what's going to be waiting for them. The Government needs to tell us first thing tomorrow morning, so parents and teachers can all plan over the weekend.

Different counties may well have different interpretations of key workers, despite any intentions to the contrary.

Our county have decided this. The list includes
 Medical professionals, including doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics etc.
 Other health workers - such as employment in a medical/health setting
 Community safety - police force and fire brigade
 Education - teachers, classroom support staff, school cleaners/caretakers etc
 Workers in childcare/early years settings
 Social care/domiciliary care works

And it won't be up to the headteacher's discretion. Our schools are going to be sending the pupils to a nominated hub school which has been decided by the county. And it is the county who will be offering places to those parents who have indicated that they are key workers - ideally with some requirement to provide some proof.

I work for the NHS, I'm able to work next week because DHs company have said they understand there will be on overlap between wfh and childcare and that children don't care that you're on a videoconference when they need a snack or a drink and that's ok, every needs to be understanding and flexible. Work your hours when it suits you. I'm so grateful to them, they're handling this perfectly. I hope more companies issue the same message to their employees. I also hope lots of you get the support you need and deserve, it's an extremely stressful time.

I feel so sorry for headteachers and LAs, I suspect they've messed up by announcing so many people would be included and now its incredibly difficult to pin down who is key.

It is ridiculous. Schools are staying open purely so that during those hours key workers can go to work. If there is another parent at home, they should jolly well look after them. A 2 parent family who both work at Tesco will have to decide who stays at home to look after the kids.
We aren't teaching, it will be books, videos, crafts etc, it is emergency babysitting! It might not even be in the child's own school, they might be attending an unfamiliar setting that is open.
And yes, we have had 'keyworkers' think that they can 'book up' for the next 3 months as if it is holiday club activities.

@TheCountessatHotelCortez - that seems so shortsighted and I really can’t blame you for prioritising your family.

Also feels like some on this thread are underestimating what we’re asking of our healthcare workers.. and want everything to be ‘fair’, with a misguided view of what fair is.... I wouldn’t be a healthcare worker right now for all the childcare in the world! I do appreciate a lot of people are having a very shit and worrying time. But even so.

I have been saying this to loads of people today. It's obvious that many key workers will earn far less than their partners and if one partner needs to stay home for childcare, every family will ensure the higher earner stays at work. The government need to back track on this only being for people where both partners are key workers/single parent keyworker families otherwise the school/nursery closures will still have a devestatkng effect on staffing of key industries.

We are in a weird position where DH is due to start work soon as a key worker, and his salary will be roughly what I earn now with all the benefits we get. However I only work 4 days a week and I imagine he would be working like 6. So from a childcare and financial perspective it would make no sense for him to take that job and financially we would be in the same position except he would be away from the family home far more for the same money. Luckily my work have confirmed they can be flexible with my hours so we can manage without either of us needing to take a pay cut but if we did, it would have to be him who stayed at home.

Scottishgirl85
👏👏👏

The government need to be able to make companies be realistic and allow flexible homeworking

@Quartz2208 and how does that work for my structural engineer DH? He literally can’t work from home and he just got in from work saying that company stance is still the same even though schools are closing

Non key worker here and husband is not a key worker but can't work from home. Due to the nature of his job he will probably have to work a lot extra hours.

So I will work from home, I will have Skype meetings and work 9 - 5 as i always do.

I will have 2 kids under my feet and it will be though but needs must. We will all have difficult times ahead and we're all in the same situation and need to manage as best we can.

Message from our school stating only ONE parent needs to be a key worker.

Homeworking isn't always possible though. My company have been clear that homeworking due to lack of childcare will only be allowed if you can work "fully productively" with your manager's agreement. There is no way I can work "fully productively" for a 7.5hr day at home in sole charge of a 21 month old. So I can WFH and will be doing so but I am not allowed to do it and have sole charge of her. We have been warned we could face disciplinary action if the homeworking/childcare/unpaid leave affects our output.

Well I'm a childminder who has had to close her doors from tomorrow. I'm also a single parent reliant on my childminder income. No key worker children. I'm completely fudged until bojo says how he can help me.

Matt Hancock on question time tonight said the list will definitely be published tomorrow also an article in the guardian (is that a credible source) tonight saying only 1 keyworker parent to qualify for a place for education.

well not everything can be but there is a lot that could be - for example with Meadowhay that is a completely normal policy in normal times but not for now.

There are some jobs that of course cant be done but a lot of companies arent even trying

@Quartz2208 absolutely agree with you that home working should be done where it is possible, I know all the office staff at the company are no working from home

Now working from home that should say