As the chair of the Liverpool Region of the National Day Nurseries Association, the NDNA, I know that our CEO, Purnima Tanuku, is in frequent meetings with Government departments to try and secure funding in order that we can afford to remain open for critical workers’ children.
Settings are still trying to absorb this information and the impact it will have on the viability and ability to continue to care for children of key workers. When lockdown commenced, many settings were doing their utmost best to continue to pay full 100 per cent salaries until we are able to open again.
Once we were informed that we could still retain the National Education Funding for our children, despite them not being able to attend, we realised this would enable many settings to keep salaries between 80 per cent and 100 per cent and maintain nurseries until we can open fully again.
My own setting, Monkton, has remained partially open, and we have a skeleton staff of five practitioners caring for the children of keyworkers, between four and 14 children each day, and I am aware of many other settings staying open under similar circumstances. It is a happy, family atmosphere, and one parent, an NHS worker, said that it is their oasis of happiness in the chaos of the day. Like myself, settings continue to pay this core group of practitioners full pay, while furloughing the remaining staff.
Nursery practitioners are not immune to the challenges that the lockdown brings. They have mortgages and bills to pay, families to support and this lockdown is not their fault. The ability to remain open to the vital community of critical workers to fight this horrendous virus, the happiness and safety of the children, and security of the staff are my priorities.
Very few nurseries have insurance cover, and those that do have only limited liability and duration cover. Representations have been made to successive Governments that the NEF level of funding is not sufficient in the first instance. The NDNA along with many other nursery organisations have been constantly lobbying Government to increase this rate in line with inflation. A Paper was recently presented to our Local Authority showing that this rate had not risen since 2015, and a rise of 35 per cent was required to simply give parity to the 2015 rate, when all the cost increases to nurseries was factored in. The rate is set to rise in 2020 by less than 2 per cent!
The NEF funding has never been at a level to provide barely more than the National Living Wage, and is often subsidised by settings by the care provided outside of 'Free Education'. This has not been recognised by any political party. This recent decision by Government means that many who care daily for children, may be adversely affected by reduction in income, even at the 80 per cent furlough rate, which is now being challenged. Many nurseries can access neither the £10,000 small Business grant, let alone the £25,000 grant to Leisure, Retail and Hospitality businesses, a high proportion of which have no overheads to cover whilst we are in lockdown. I wonder if our nurseries will be awarded any of the £1.6 billion released by Government on Friday ?
I believe that Governments have consistently overlooked the fact that nurseries do not just have salaries to pay, and for many there are huge mortgages or rents on the properties, and a multitude of overheads including heating, lighting, food, consumables, PPE, insurance, waste management, maintenance, plus many more outgoings which still apply for those which have remained open to support the country.
I fear that this uncalculated decision will result in a large number of private nurseries closing imminently to key workers, possibly permanently, and potentially not being there when the country goes back to work and needs quality childcare. Childcare sufficiency is a Government responsibility and this action will inevitably cause significant difficulties nationally for the childcare demands of our country’s working parents.
The private sector cares for the majority of funded children, providing vital early education and care whilst allowing parents to return to work or study. No other provision is in place to support the parents of children under 3 years of age, moreover it is the private sector which provides the majority of child care for ALL Early Years children.
Our nurseries and their staff continue to work tirelessly on the front line in a role where social distancing is impossible, risking their own and their families health each day. We continue to remain open for key workers because we understand the vital importance of the service we provide. Whilst the measures that the Government have taken by providing businesses with a Business Rate Holiday, or a small one-off grant, goes a little way to assisting, it is not only disappointing, it is disparaging that the Government continues to show such little regard for the critical role the childcare sector plays, and the many challenges it faces on a daily basis.
Ann Miller, PVI representative on the Schools Forum, Liverpool, also contributed to this article