ÎÞÂëÌìÌÃ

By Rachel Lawler

A total of 2,707 early years settings reported that they had one or more cases of Covid-19 in the week commencing 22 November.

This is a 38% increase on the week commencing 15 November when 1,960 settings reported one or more positive cases, which itself was a significant increase from the week commencing 8 November, when 1,403 settings reported positive cases.

Worrying trends
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the ÎÞÂëÌìÌÃ, commented: "It is extremely worrying to see such a sharp rise in reports of Covid-19 cases in settings during just one week of reporting. This is likely to create huge fear and anxiety for the early years workforce, who cannot socially distance from either the children in their care or their colleagues, and for setting owners and managers who once again face a loss of income and rising staffing shortages.

"Early years educators have put themselves at risk throughout the pandemic to ensure young children get the care and education they need, and that parents can continue to go out to work. With early years settings clearly at risk, the government must now, as a priority, look to put in place additional measures to protect early years staff and their families, including reviewing the rules that allow young children living with someone who is Covid-positive to continue attending their early years setting, regardless of which variant they happen to have. 

Funding rates
"With Covid rates unlikely to fall for some time now, it is also vital that early years providers get the financial support they need to ensure they can remain afloat during what is likely to be an incredibly difficult period. As such, we urge the government to commit to basing funding for the early years entitlements on pre-pandemic, rather than current, levels of attendance. 

"A strong early years infrastructure is key to a functioning economy and society. Government must, therefore, do all it can to protect our critical sector as we enter this latest phase of the Covid pandemic."