Working alongside dot2dot Nursery Insurance, 70 early years organisations have joined forces to help the sector prepare for life and business to continue post lockdown.

The COVID-19 Reaction Group has produced a set of Standard Operating Procedures that will support other nursery settings to build on from their own circumstances moving forward.

As June 1st nears, many nurseries are getting ready to re-open after months of closures. Of course, many nurseries stayed open during lockdown, however the past two months have been extremely stressful for the sector. There is still a lot of uncertainty as we move forward but the COVID-19 Reaction Group aims to mitigate as much complexity as possible.

Nursery insurance company, dot2dot, were approached to advise the group and they took the questions from the group to insurers Aviva, alongside specialists partners, Croner and BLM Solicitors to provide guidance and checklists covering areas such as HR, Health & Safety and insurance for nursery owners, as they, along with the rest of the country, begin to think about returning to a new norm following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jackie Hyde, MD of dot2dot Nursery Insurance, said:

‘Lockdown has been arguably the biggest challenge we will see in our lifetime, so when approached by the Covid-19 working group, we knew we needed to help. Our dot2dot clients already had access to a fabulous management toolkit from our strategic partners Croner Group, which was providing invaluable information related to Covid-19, but we wanted to help the nursery sector as a whole.

‘We are therefore pleased to announce that Croner Group have also agreed to give its Croner-i Lite toolkit to all nursery owners including free HR and Health & Safety advice until August 1, 2020. This means that this is available to every nursery business, even if we don’t insure them.’

Ruth Pimentel, of Kindred Nurseries, added:

‘Working with Jackie and the other Covid-19 reaction group nurseries has been a real benefit in what has been a difficult time. Every setting has different needs and to have this group around you at this time has been of huge value. This Croner-i toolkit is filled with hands-on practical information that every nursery will need at this time, so it is brilliant that dot2dot has been able to deliver this for everyone.’

Darren Chadwick, commercial director of Croner Group, said:

‘Why would you not want to help an industry that has worked tirelessly to care for keyworker’s children during the lockdown period. We were delighted to support our partners dot2dot and the nursery providers in widening our offering to anyone who needs it.’

Therefore, from May 27 until August 1, 2020, anyone can access the Reopening the Workplace Toolkit for Early Years Settings via dot2dot.org.uk, providing step-by-step guidance for re-opening the workplace after the Covid-19 restrictions. It provides links to key information and templates on the website.

• Updated: Coronavirus in schools and early years settings
• How to prepare for a wider opening of early years settings
• The privacy implications of workplace testing
• HSE reminder on water systems safety in lockdown

New documents

Several new resources have also been added to the Crisis Management Planning topic:

• Covid-19 Reopening Health and Safety Checklist
• Covid-19 Re-opening Hygiene Checklist
• Coronavirus Staff at Risk – Risk Assessment Template
• Contractor and Visitor Covid-19 Guidance
• Employee Factsheet: Hygiene at Work
• Coronavirus Handwashing Poster
• Call an expert helpline