Trigger warning!!! - extremely sad child related. Why nurseries can only close if furlough is guaranteed

[JanewaysBun]

Don't think this is a duplicate thread, sorry if it is!

With nurseries possibly being closed we must ensure that furlough is legally guaranteed to one parent for child staying at home.

The below is really really sad (child accident related), this really stuck a chord with me and has made me feel so sad.

Last summer a 18 mo died after his mother was trying to WFH and provide childcare. In no way blaming this poor woman whom I assume was simply trying to earn money to feed her DC as well as looking after them

Basicslly she was on a long conference call and the child escaped the house and tragically died in a hot tub. This has really resonated with me, children are NOT safe if a parent is attempting to WFH whilst looking after them. Imo should nurseries close, everyone should be legally entitled to furlough if they are the main childcaring parent.

Also imo this should be up to age maybe 7 (mine are 2 and 1 so not sure at what age they can sit still for 2 mins so feel free to correct)
www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/12/01/baby-drowned-hot-tub-mother-working-home-inquest-hears/amp/

So in short if nurseries need to close which I accept they might we need to provide something In place to keep them safe at home.

Also aware furlough (80%?) Will cause some people to get into financial difficulty so definitely need to have something extra in place for these people.

I will probably resign if I have to "work" whilst with a 2 and 1 yo (DH works 14+ hour days and basically earns all our money so no point making him take some sort of leave as his wage pays the bills!) And most toddlers i know dont sleep enough to allow the parent to work in that time! But aware most people are not in this fortunate position.

[quote PlanDeRaccordement]@backbee
Yes, regrettably it happens often to people when circumstances out of their control happen, but how will adding thousands more to the benefit system and out of employment help? Where will this mythical money come from to raise benefits for all? More chance of that happening with more tax flying around, no?

Are you mad? Paying benefits to replace middle and upper incomes at 80% will cost FAR FAR more than just paying the current UC level of benefits to this same number of people.[/quote]
Not when you account for the time frames! 3 months or so until childcare is back up and running or permanently/long term for those who have left the workplace!

What about pension contributions etc? It's all so short sighted.

I agree with you, but I think that DH and I would both try our hardest to avoid requesting furlough because we’d be worried that it would put us at risk of redundancy if redundancies were made- that shouldn’t be the case, but I think the culture of both our work places makes it quite likely.

@Sunshinegirl82 - I bet people said the same thing a year ago when lockdown started about it all being over in 12 weeks....

@SuperlativeScrubs

But the vaccine is being rolled out, childcare was closed for 12 weeks last time and then was open without incident (from 1st June) for the last 7 months.

Are you honestly suggesting that if childcare closes it won't be open again for years?

I completely agree that it's impossible to work to full capacity at home with young children around.

The newspaper article linked to in the OP is utterly tragic, I cannot imagine what the family especially the mother has gone through and is going through.

However, in that instance, the cause of the child's death was being able to crawl/toddle into a hot tub with an insecurely fastened lid. As others have said, this sadly could happen regardless of whether the adult looking after them was wfh or not - the accident wasn't caused by the parent wfh, it was caused by the hot tub lid not being on properly. Young children and open water are a lethal combination.

The problem with furloughing the parent who is the main carer, is that it will invariably be women who step out of the workplace, essentially sign themselves up to being 'unnecessary' to their employer and put themselves in the firing line for redundancy and reduced career development.

I don't think that's what all women want (I certainly don't and wouldn't have when my children were very young).

I do think there needs to be a stronger narrative and economic sanctions to businesses to stop pressuring their staff to go on site and to reduce their expectations of what people are able to achieve while wfh.

I also think there should have been funding given to LAs to establish small childcare hubs, which would be easier to manger infection control in than larger settings.

I'd also prefer that any financial grants/easing etc were granted on a family rather than individual basis, so that men are as able to take unpaid leave/reduce their hours on a temporary basic as women wherever possible.

It’s so hard. We have our 4 year old at home as her preschool is shut (Scotland) and she currently goes to my mums in the mornings as we both have to work. Financially I would be the one to be furloughed and I was for 6 weeks during the first lockdown. But we are a busy (non essential) manufacturing plant and whilst I don’t need to be on site, I play a critical role so have to do my job. They couldn’t furlough me, they would be at a significant disadvantage as we are already feeling the effects of a previous round of redundancies and people shielding etc. I think it’s quite likely that childcare bubbles could be rescinded (maybe not immediately, there’s other stuff to restrict first probably) and I know not everyone has someone to act as theirs. But if we didn’t have it, I would have to resign this time around. I couldn’t even begin to think about what we were doing from May onwards last year and I feel anxious about those months very often.

If nurseries close one of us will have to stop work to look after dc. If we don't both get paid we can't pay our mortgage and bills. Can't sell our flat because of the cladding scandal. Stuck in a nightmare right now tbh.

Sorry to hear that @radishesandcake
So shit xx

Honestly, if nurseries close we will isolate for 10 days & then use my 65+ year old parents. We both work in CS answering hundreds of calls a day. We have a 10 month old & 3 year. Our work is incredibly busy at the moment, they are flatly refusing furlough as they need bums on seats. If been told to quit or take unpaid leave. So we have no choice but to seek a childcare bubble. If they stop, we’ll break the rules. I know which seems riskier to me.. our nursery has been open since June & we’ve had two cases. Zero isolation. 🤷🏼‍♀️ In West Yorkshire where cases have been sky high the entire time!