Early years leaders hit out at contradictory government advice on home testing

Earlier this week the government said that early years staff working in maintained nurseries on school sites will be offered access to the testing kits. Meanwhile, those working in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) childcare settings will not be offered access to the kits. Instead they will be “prioritised” within plans for mass community testing.

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But in a House of Commons education commitee session on Tuesday, the DfE’s deputy chief scientific advisor Dr Dougal Hargreaves was questioned by Labour MP for Putney, Fleur Anderson, on why workers in PVI settings had not been included in the home testing plans, also referred to as “lateral flow testing”.

Dr Hargreaves said: “My understanding is that the plan is that the early years workforce and the primary school workforce will all be included in the twice weekly testing programme."

This is contrary to guidance from the DfE, which continues to state that PVI staff “can be tested through community testing programmes”.

Neil Leitch, Early Years Alliance chief executive, said: “It is incredibly frustrating to see a representative of the Department for Education incorrectly state that all early years providers have been included in the government's lateral flow testing plans during an important evidence session, when this simply isn't the case.

"Guidance released by the DfE yesterday clearly states that only maintained nursery schools and primary school nursery classes will have access to these tests. Private and voluntary nurseries, pre-schools and childminders are still expected to access tests at community testing centres, despite the fact this often will require travelling long distances during working hours.”

He also hit out at the decision to sideline PVI workers from home tests saying “there is absolutely no justification for this decision”.

“All early years providers have been asked to remain open to all families, and so all providers should have equal access to the tests that will help them to do so safely”, he added.

Earlier this week the National Day Nurseries Association criticised the DfE’s decision to exclude PVI staff from home testing as having a “total disregard for the pressures on PVI nurseries and the whole early years workforce”.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that children’s social workers have been excluded from a government, council and NHS list of priority groups for Covid-19 vaccination.

The list was published this month and states that frontline social care workers “directly working with people clinically vulnerable to Covid-19” will be prioritised. Only children’s social workers working with clinically vulnerable young people, or those over the age of 16 with underlying health conditions, have been included in the list.