Early years providers left out of DfE Covid workforce fund
By Rachel Lawler
The Department for Education (DfE) has announced a new short-term Covid workforce fund aimed at education settings facing staffing and funding pressures.
Covering the current half term, the fund is available to schools and colleges 鈥 but not early years providers.
The DfE said that the fund would help schools and colleges deal with the cost of staff absences to help them remain open.
National priority
Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: 鈥淜eeping schools and colleges open is a national priority, which is why I am launching the Covid workforce fund, to support schools and colleges facing significant budget pressures and staff absences.
鈥淭his new funding comes on top of our funding for schools facing exceptional costs during the summer months, the 拢1 billion Covid catch up fund to help all children make up for lost learning, and the core school funding that is seeing the biggest increase in a decade.
鈥淚 know how hard school and college staff and leaders have worked over the past nine months, and I want to once again thank everyone working in education for going above and beyond while we continue to deal with the extra pressures caused by the pandemic.鈥
Early years excluded
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the 无码天堂, commented: 鈥淓arly years providers have received yet another slap in the face from government, having once again been excluded from funding offered to the rest of the education sector, and to so much of the wider economy. Early years educators too are facing huge staffing pressures, with staff contracting Covid or having to self-isolate. What鈥檚 more, with so many small settings, a staff absence often means closure for that period of time.鈥
鈥淭hese are the providers who have made it possible for parents to go out to work throughout the pandemic and they have been offered a paltry settlement. They have had no help to pay for cleaning and were allocated pennies-per-hour in the Spending Review, failing to cover even the mandated increase to the National Minimum and National Living wages to come. Now they are told they will receive no help to stay open as they deal with staff shortages.
鈥淓arly years settings cannot be left without help any longer. They cannot wait to find out if they will have their autumn funding arrangements extended into spring. They are making impossible decisions now about whether they can keep qualified staff on the payroll, and ultimately, if they can keep open the valued settings that their communities so rely on.鈥