Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, in the context of the spread of the Omicron variant of covid-19, what assessment he has made of the level of absences from (a) nurseries and (b) early years childcare providers; and what steps he is taking to support those providers that may be experiencing a significant loss of income.

The government has provided enhanced support to nurseries during the COVID-19 outbreak given the direct and acute impacts of non-pharmaceutical interventions on nursery attendance. Nurseries that pay business rates are able to claim up to 66% relief on business rates this financial year, until 31 March 2022.

Eligible early years providers may also access the new Recovery Loans as set out by my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 3 March 2021. The Recovery Loan Scheme is currently open to small and medium enterprises to support them to access loans and other kinds of finance so they can recover after the COVID-19 outbreak and transition period. Further details regarding this loan scheme can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/recovery-loan-scheme.

On 21 December, an additional £100 million was announced as part of a discretionary grant to local authorities. The intention is that this will support local businesses that may potentially be impacted financially because of the COVID-19 outbreak. Use of this funding is at the individual local authority’s discretion but is intended to support businesses who are impacted by COVID-19 but may not be eligible for the hospitality, leisure, and culture grants, as announced on 21 December.

The Statutory Sick Pay Rebate Scheme is also returning from mid-January 2022 for COVID-related sickness absences for up to 2 weeks per employee occurring from 21 December 2021 onwards. This 2 week limit will be reset so an employer will be able to claim regardless of whether they have claimed under the previous scheme for that employee. More guidance is to be published shortly.

More information on both schemes can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-economic-support-package.

At the Spending Review 2021 the government announced that we are investing additional funding for the early years entitlements worth £160 million in the 2022-23 financial year, £180 million in the 2023-24 financial year and £170 million in the 2024-25 financial year compared to the current year. This is for local authorities to increase hourly rates paid to childcare providers for the government’s free childcare entitlement offers and reflects cost pressures, as well as anticipated changes in the number of eligible children.

All early years settings on the Ofsted register must report to Ofsted any confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the setting. Reporting is a legal requirement as set out in paragraph 3.52 of the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework. The notification data is published on a fortnightly basis here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reported-coronavirus-covid-19-cases-by-registered-early-years-and-childcare-settings. The department will continue to monitor the number of COVID-19 notifications in line with the trajectory of cases in the wider population.

Department officials also continue to monitor the sufficiency of childcare places and delivery of the entitlements with all local authority early years teams in England on a regular basis.