Alliance urges lateral flow tests rollout to nurseries and childminders as government announces expansion of private business access

Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:

"If the government can roll out lateral flow testing not only to colleges, schools and local authority nursery schools, but also now a significant proportion of private businesses, there is absolutely no excuse for not ensuring that the same support is made available to all private and voluntary nurseries, pre-schools across the country.

"The health secretary has rightly said that “focusing testing on those without symptoms is ... essential” to reducing the spread of Covid. It beggars belief, therefore, that we are now over a month into national lockdown and the government has still failed to ensure that early years and childcare settings, where social distancing is simply not possible, have direct access to vital tests.

"Early years providers have been asked to continue providing care and education at a time when the majority of population has been instructed to stay at home. The very least the government can do is ensure that they are given the practical support to do so as safely as possible."