The money is available for nurseries and childminders, and will be an extension of currently-funded two-, three- and four-year-old places.
Payments will be based on occupancy, for which a headcount exercise will be carried out. A council spokesman confirmed that the whole two weeks of the Easter break would be covered, even if nurseries currently stretch the 38-week offer over a longer period and would be open anyway.
Cllr Philip Owen, Chair of the Children and Young People’s Committee said, “Children should be kept at home wherever it is possible and safe to do so. Critical workers who are unable to do this can and should be able to access childcare and we don’t want a lack of funding to get in the way.
'The need to support critical workers and vulnerable children during the Coronavirus pandemic is paramount to prevent loss of life and to ease the burden on critical services such as the NHS and social care. By providing this funding we are preventing the closure of some early years childcare and enabling critical workers to do their jobs which will ultimately save lives.
Access to childcare can be a barrier for some critical workers, so it is important for us to do what we can to remove these barriers, especially for children who would have normally received funded childcare.
We are working with early years providers to make sure we have enough childcare during the holidays. The local early years sector is doing a fantastic job and it is crucial that providers are able to carry on with their important work at this time. The council is very grateful for all of the additional work they are doing during this crisis.'
Susan Mills, managing director of Cherubs Nurseries, the largest provider in Nottinghamshire, said that she was glad that the extra money was being provided. Cherubs currently has five of its 13 nurseries open for keyworkers and vulnerable children.
