13% of early years staff off work due to Covid-19
By Rachel Lawler
The Department for Education has released the latest gathered by its weekly Covid Workforce Absence survey, revealing that more than 10% of staff were absent due to Covid-19 on 12 January.
13% of paid early years staff at group- or school-based settings were absent on 12 January due to Covid-19-related reasons – this was down slightly from 14% the week before.
The data also shows that 5% of early years settings were only partially open in the week commencing 17 January while 2% were fully closed.
85% of the children attended their usual place at their setting, up slightly from 84% the week before.
Major effect on staff levels
Neil Leitch , CEO of the Alliance, commented: "We welcome the fact that the government is finally taking steps to capture the impact of Covid-19-related staff shortages in early years settings.
"With nearly one in ten settings closed, and others restricting attendance, it’s clear that the pandemic is still having a major effect on staffing levels. Given that early years settings work to tight adult-to-child ratios, small fluctuations in staff numbers can have a significant impact on their operation. Even those providers who have managed to remain open may have to turn children away due to a lack of sufficient staff -this means disruption for both parents and children that rely on consistency and continuity in their early education and care.
"аÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½± are doing their utmost to try to deliver a normal service to families, but they need government support to do so, and so we once again urge the government to look at tightening self-isolation rules for under-fives to reduce the risk of preventable outbreaks in early years settings.
"What’s more, given that the early years sector was already facing huge staffing pressures long before the onset of the pandemic, it is vital that ministers now look to address the long-term recruitment and retention crisis that put settings in such a precarious staffing position in the first place if we are to avoid such a dire situation ever arising again."
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