NDNA has joined with the Early Years Alliance and PACEY to call on the government to add early years and childcare practitioners to the list of essential workers offered an exemption to the current self-isolation rules.

Representing their members and the wider sector the letter highlights the rise in practitioners self-isolating, the disruption to children and families as well as the financial cost when settings have to close and the fact that childcare providers have been treated as critical workers throughout the pandemic to date.

The letter also stated that early education and childcare providers have “taken rigorous safety measures to ensure their settings are as safe as possible” and are “best placed” to make appropriate decisions on staffing and risk alongside affected practitioners.

Purnima Tanuku OBE, chief Exec of NDNA, said: “Since the proposed exemptions were announced we have been urging government Ministers and departments to include early years workers in the list of critical services. They have been providing childcare for critical workers throughout the pandemic and are a vital part of our national infrastructure.”

The letter to Gavin Williamson stated:

“Early years provision is essential economic infrastructure providing an indispensable service to families, including children of those key workers being asked to leave isolation to keep other critical services running.

“They also provide a vital sense of stability and normality for children at what is a very difficult time. Throughout the pandemic early years and childcare practitioners have gone out to work, to care for young children, despite the risks to themselves and to their households. Early years and childcare providers have taken rigorous safety measures to ensure their settings are as safe as possible for children attending and adults working there.

“This makes it particularly frustrating that they have not been included in this list of critical services. As you may be aware, self-isolation is particularly challenging for the sector since staffing ratios can dramatically affect a setting’s ability to operate.

“Requiring fully vaccinated practitioners to continue isolating therefore causes unnecessary disruption for young children and their parents and has the potential to leave other critical workers without access to childcare. It also places a further financial burden on a sector already struggling with the impact of the pandemic on the sustainability of their business – putting parents’ access to early years and childcare provision at risk for the future.”