Change to furlough for nursery workers!!

[Samcj02]

Anybody here work in childcare and has seen the revised furlough requirement by the government. They unturned on Friday evening.. anybody concerned about what they’ll now be receiving.. I, myself agreed to be furloughed under the impression the pay was 80%. I’ve added a link www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/article/government-makes-u-turn-on-nurseries-access-to-furlough-cash

Yes.
And what if staff are laid off instead of furloughed and their are none to come back? There are less pressured ways of earning a wage than early years. Most of us are doing it as we enjoy seeing children learn and progress, not because of the earning potential!

We’ve stayed open and four of us have stayed on to work as we’re getting around 7 children per day. The rest of my colleagues are furloughed as we have no work for them.

I wonder whether some owners/chains did the maths and worked out that they would be better off closing altogether and claiming furlough and the funding rather than stay open and struggle on for the sake of providing for keyworkers children? Certainly locally, the number of setting closing rapidly after the funding announcements were made suggest this.

I agree that those heroic nurseries and staff working to care for keyworkers children should be given extra funding because they feel it’s the right thing to do even though it means running at a loss. It’s a lifeline for me at the moment.

Hmmmm I'm no employment expert but surely they need to give you some kind of notice to actually lay you off and give you no pay tho?

This is completely awful but I can't help thinking this is the fault of all those CFs who were charging parents 100% while not actually providing a service. They've caused huge problems for all the other nurseries who were doing the right thing.
The furlough scheme shouldn't be treating nurseries differently to other businesses though.
This whole thing is very unfair on the hardworking honest majority of nurseries.

"The new guidance says that private providers should only furlough employees if:

• the employee works in an area of business where services are temporarily not required and where their salary is not covered by public funding"

So a member of staff from the baby room is on 80% furlough and one from the pre-school isn't covered and should be paid as normal? But if the nursery is shut why keep them employed? And what about "floaters" who sometimes work in a funded area and sometimes don't?

@mysterian that’s my worry I work in preschool, if day across the bored it works out about 40% of children are funded! But I wouldn’t be too pleased if a member of staff from baby room gets 80% and I don’t. We are only open to keyworker children as far as I’m aware no funded children are in but obviously the government are still paying for funded children. It’s just worrying, I know someone who works in a small setting who’s still getting the 80% plus the owner is topping that up yet the chain nurseries are finding it difficult to stump
Up! X

@WhatTiggersDoBest totally agree, think some have seen this as a way to profit which is just wrong x

And we definitely work in childcare because we love our jobs not for the money many of us are NMW or slightly above..

I know this sound ridiculous, but it's almost as if nobody in government understands how nurseries work.

I have been told I will be at 80% .

@Mysterian totally agree!

@june2007 so are the children in your setting mostly privately paid? It’s all a bit confusing, I just want an answer from my manager ASAP!

Your poor owners/managers are probably just recalculating it all over the weekend. I’m a deputy not a manager but work closely with my owner manager and I know it’s been a real pain navigating through all this since lockdown. Especially with insurance companies deciding not to pay out and getting other help being based on certain criteria. Hopefully there won’t be any other changes so the final figures can be sorted and help claimed for.

I just hope my nursery manages to get through all this. We have done everything we’ve been asked to - we open for key worker children and have taken children from closed settings, furloughed surplus staff so they can maintain a bit of income and be ready to work as soon as possible. Would be nice if the government and media recognised this rather than printing all the stories about mean nurseries still charging or closing doors to key workers. I’m pretty sure the ones that did take those measures did so because they had no choice with their set of considerations.

Changing it at this stage is ridiculous - many will have made decisions based on the previously available info, potentially including deciding to remain open for keyworkers. I know of a few which have done this and are very quiet, basically making a loss on being open but have obviously worked out that combined with furlough and continuing funding they could make it work. So they've maybe furloughed some staff, but kept enough active to run a keyworker service thinking the funding was there.

I suspect some will pull the plug in order to cut their costs to the bare minimum.

So if a private nursery furloughs staff but is still charging the parents the full amount they will be making a huge profit. I can't see how this can be right. Full fees yet the government will be paying 80% of staff wages.

I don't actually think many are now charging full fees (there will be exceptions though).

It is Private but takes the government vouchers. People have been asked to contribute to keep place open but def not ful fees, and I don,t know if all parents have agreed the contribution, nursery is open for key children.

Great

Imagine i'll be laid off next month then

The principle is reasonable - if funding is still being received then of course the government shouldn’t be paying twice. In the same way state schools can’t furlough staff and receive 80% of their salary as well as the salary already covered by the state.

The problem in practice is that nursery funding is so badly administered and complicated that it’s going to be a nightmare to sort out. As a PP noted for settings that are fully just funded hours it’s fine.

Yes, the reason they changed it makes sense. It’s doing it at last minute after decisions had been made on the previous set of guidelines that’s causing the problem.

We haven’t charged any parents except those still using the service, so we’ll be running solely on funding, loans, insurance (if they decide to cover we still don’t know) and the couple of fees still being paid plus whatever we can still use from furlough. I’m glad I’m not my boss this weekend!

That’s very strange.
Our nursery (part of a nationwide chain) is shut at the moment, it is not one of ‘hubs’ for key workers children. They have posted on social media that furloughed employees will receive 100% pay and those still working to look after key workers children will receive an extra 10% pay. I’m thrilled they seem to be treating their staff so well and am a big supporter of the nursery in general.

I should add we have not been asked to pay a penny, all fees have been put on hold while my DD doesn’t attend

I suspect that will change soon Nixon

Our son's childminder has asked for full fees while she is shut to us (she is still open for key worker children), I guess because her insurance won't pay out. I thought 50% or a retainer would be more fair, given how long this may go on... But She is lovely and we're currently still earning full pay (hopefully this will continue), but I find it surprising so many nurseries aren't charging anything parents. Maybe that will change with this new government guidance??