Children: Social Services

(asked on 23rd March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it his policy that children’s social care workers on temporary contracts who are not eligible for sick pay be paid in the event that they self-isolate as a result of suspected covid-19.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 21st April 2020

Local authorities have the day-to-day responsibility for their child and family social care workforce and for the delivery of children’s social care including the terms and conditions of their employees. We are working closely with them to support their social care workforce, to provide stability of services for our most vulnerable children.

£1.6 billion of additional funding is being provided to support local authorities address any pressures they are facing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including in children’s social care.

We are working with the sector, the Treasury and other government departments to assess COVID-19 related cost pressures on local authorities arising from children’s social care. We are also closely monitoring what’s happening on the ground, to help ensure social care workers get the support they need every step of the way in the weeks and months ahead.

More generally, the government has announced a significant package of temporary measures for those who may be unable to work. This includes a £20 per week increase to the Universal Credit standard allowance and Working Tax Credit basic element and nearly a £1 billion increase in support for renters through increases to the Local Housing Allowance rates for Universal Credit and Housing Benefit claimants. Taken together, these measures and those announced at Budget provide over £6.5 billion additional support through the welfare system for people affected by COVID-19. These changes will benefit all new and existing claimants.

Anyone can check their eligibility and apply for Universal Credit by visiting the GOV.UK website: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/what-youll-get.

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