April 2021

Childcare
news & views
COVID home-testing kits to be
given to all nursery staff in
England
Early years chiefs have welcomed the
announcement by the Department for
Education that all staff from the private,
voluntary and independent nurseries
(PVI) sector will have access to lateral flow
device (LFD) home tests twice-weekly as of
22nd March.
Ofsted says assurance
inspections will not restart in
March
Ofsted has announced that it will
not restart its early years assurance
inspections in March as previously
planned.
Ofsted planned to return to inspections, to
monitor whether childcare providers were
meeting the EYFS requirements from 8th
March, but decided to instead concentrate
on the return of full Education Inspection
Framework (EIF) inspections as soon as
possible in the summer term.
This decision will be kept under review.
Regulatory work in early years will
continue, as stated by Ofsted: “This work
will sometimes require on-site visits, which
will be risk-assessed based on the nature
of the premises and the urgency of the
work. As always, the safety and well-being
of children is our priority and we will take
urgent action where we have concerns.”
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
Government’s confirmation of
phase 2 of the vaccinations
At the end of last month, the government
announced that phase 2 of the vaccination
rollout will continue by age as advised by
the Joint Committee on Vaccination and
Immunisation (JCVI) and Public Health
England (PHE).
Following the first priority groups, the
vaccination will be offered to adults in the
following order:
• Adults aged between 40 and 49
• Adults aged between 30 and 39
• Adults aged between 18 and 29
The government added that they predict
all adults will receive their first vaccination
by the end of July.
COVID-19 Chair for JCVI, Professor Wei
Shen Lim, said: “The risk of hospitalisation
and death increases with age. The
vaccination programme is a huge success
and continuing the age-based rollout will
provide the greatest benefit in the shortest
time, including to those in occupations at a
higher risk of exposure.”
The Early Years Alliance has had meetings
with the government in which they raise
their concerns with regards to frontline
early years workers still being at high risk.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early
Years Alliance said: “It is incomprehensible
that yet again, early years workers have
been overlooked by the government and
told to wait for the vaccine. This is in spite
of a spike in COVID case reports within
the sector and the fact that early years
providers have been open to all children
throughout this latest lockdown.
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
Employers to receive £3,000
cash incentive for all
apprentices
In his spring budget, Rishi Sunak
announced that the employer’s cash
incentive for all apprentices will double to
£3,000 as of 1st April 2021 and is set to
continue until September 2021.
The chancellor first introduced the financial
incentive for employers in August 2020
and offered firms £2,000 to take on
apprentices aged 16 to 24, and those who
chose to employ a new apprentice aged
25 and over would only receive £1,500.
This is the current incentive scheme which
is ending in March.
The DfE has reported that the take up
was considerably lower than they had
anticipated. Their data shows that 25,420
employers have submitted claims for the
bonus as of 1 February 2021. The Treasury
had budgeted nearly 4 times that amount
of incentive payments for new apprentice
hires.
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
It is well known that PVI nursery settings
were previously advised to access COVID
tests at their local community test centres.
This caused logistical issues for many
PVI nursery settings because their local
community testing centres are located
miles away. The testing centres were also
only open during working hours which
often caused a timing issue for nurseries.
In an article published on daynurseries.
co.uk it is reported that the early years
sector has been campaigning for PVI
nurseries to be treated the same as school
nurseries and be given testing kits since
December, and that the announcement
was welcomed by the Early Years
Alliance and the National Day Nurseries
Association. However the sector is still
frustrated about waiting another month
before the home testing will be rolled out
across the country.
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
Home-testing kits at last for
nurseries and pre-schools
Lateral flow devices for COVID-19 testing
are starting to make their way into
nurseries and pre-schools and staff have
been told by the DfE that they are able to
start using them from 22nd March.
The existing government guidance on
rapid lateral flow testing was updated on
16th March and now applies to nursery
staff, including anyone in the household
or support bubble of nursery children and
nursery staff. Households, childcare and
support bubbles of nursery children will
now have regular access to rapid lateral
flow tests.
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
Cost of childcare increases by
4% due to COVID-19 pandemic
Figures from the recent Coram Family and
Childcare survey have revealed that the
cost of childcare has increased by 4% on
average due to the current pandemic. It’s
no secret that every industry has been
affected by the pandemic and the early
years sector has faced major trials and
tribulations during the past year.
The survey shows that childcare providers
are struggling to remain stable. Results
show that over a third (35%) of local
authorities reported an increase in the
number of providers permanently closing in
the last year, but the majority did not report
an increase in shortages of childcare – this
is perhaps due to a decrease in demand
during the pandemic. The survey further
reveals that nearly 40% of local authorities
in England have reported that providers
have increased their prices.
Megan Jarvie, head of Coram Family
and Childcare, said: “The pandemic has
reminded us all of the vital importance
of childcare, in enabling parents to work,
boosting children’s learning and narrowing
the gap between disadvantaged children
and their peers. However, the crisis has
also exacerbated the issues that exist in the
sector. For too many families, the system
simply isn’t working, and they are left
struggling to make work pay after childcare
costs, or are forced out of the workplace
entirely.
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
Childcare providers given
guidance by GCHQ to help stop
cyber attacks
Childcare providers have been offered
advice and guidance on how to protect
sensitive data and safeguard staff and
children by minimising the risk of a cyber
security incident.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC),
part of GCHQ – the UK’s intelligence, cyber
and security agency – has published
this guidance which offers early years
practitioners top tips on how to protect their
devices and data from cyber incidents.
The guidance, which has been produced
in consultation with major stakeholders,
covers topics including setting up strong
passwords on devices and accounts, how
to communicate with families safely, and
dealing with suspicious messages.
Sarah Lyons, NCSC deputy director for
Economy and Society Engagement, said:
“We know that incidents affecting the
education sector are increasingly common,
so it’s vital that all providers know how to
secure their devices and sensitive data.
“As many early years practitioners work on
their own without dedicated IT support, this
guidance sets out the practical first steps
they can take to protect themselves from
cyber incidents.
“By following our advice, they’ll not only be
keeping their businesses safe, but will also
be keeping those in their care and families
safe too.”
Read the full story on the Parenta website
here.
4 April 2021 | parenta.com
parenta.com | April 2021 5