Findings from the NDNA poll, shared exclusively with Nursery World, reveal that across the 471 early years settings that responded, an average of 22 per cent of staff were absent from work because of Coronavirus.
Around 23 per cent of those that took part had a third or more of their staff off, while 3 per cent of respondents had more than 80 per cent of their staff absent in the course of the week.
The online poll collected data for the week commencing 3 January.
A breakdown of the findings per country shows, on average, that settings in England had more staff off than those in Scotland and Wales.
Staff and child absences due to Covid, source: NDNA
In comparison, the percentage of children absent due to the virus, as reported by survey respondents, was much lower at 9 per cent across all settings in England, Scotland and Wales.
Per country, settings in Scotland had more children off than those in England and Wales.
A total of 7 per cent of respondents had no staff absent and 13 per cent had no children off.
'The current wave of cases is having a significant impact on staffing across nurseries'
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the NDNA, said, ‘Our snap poll for the first week back after Christmas shows that the current wave of cases is having a significant impact on staffing levels across nurseries
‘We know that Covid cases impacting on settings doubled in December and this trend is continuing into the New Year. This is why we welcome the clarity on staff flexibilities, trusting nurseries to judge how they can manage their settings safely and supporting continuing care and education for children.
‘Staff absences are at a higher rate than children’s which is why nurseries are facing the daily task of managing their rotas. It is important that regulators and governments in all nations understand enormous pressure the sector is under right now.
‘Thank you to all settings who provided data for this important evidence. We are now looking at the most recent week so please fill in our short survey for week commencing 10 January so we continue to be able to show the latest picture from the front line.’
- The results are taken from the first of a series of surveys by the NDNA into early years staff absences. To take part in the next survey click here
