Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to cover additional private childcare costs incurred by key workers following the outbreak of covid-19.

The government has asked childcare providers to continue to care for a limited number of children – those who are vulnerable and those whose parents are critical to the COVID-19 response and cannot be safely cared for at home. Guidance for childcare providers to follow in this can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-early-years-and-childcare-closures.

Local authorities will be assessing the needs of communities and will be liaising with providers about how best to organise childcare for vulnerable children and children of critical workers.

Providers should try to be as flexible as possible for critical workers who work shifts or atypical hours.

We urge all childcare providers to be reasonable and balanced in their dealings with parents, given the great uncertainty they will be facing too.