Council not making fortnightly calls as promised says nursery manager

Dawn Samboer - also the owner of the St Nicholas Church Pre-School - reached out to ward councillor Stephanie Nunn to contest claims made by Cllr Robert Benham in a recent article on the Recorder's website.

In response to criticism over the treatment of nurseries, the council's cabinet member for education, children and families outlined a number of supportive measures being offered by the council - one of which was fortnightly calls to managers.

Dawn said she had not received the calls and had already canvassed more than 20 settings - nurseries - by the time she reached out to Cllr Nunn, finding that more than half had not received a single call.

That number had risen to 39 when the Recorder spoke to Dawn the following day; of those, she said 25 had received no calls at all, eight had received their first and only call last week, and six had received two calls.

The Recorder asked the council to explain.

Cllr Benham said: “Allocated advisers have been in regular contact with providers throughout this pandemic, as well as hosting termly briefings, associated meetings and networks. The new fortnightly calls are in addition to this other regular contact and began in mid-January."

Dawn said she and her fellow nursery managers are "absolutely appalled" at how they've been treated during the pandemic.

She confirmed Cllr Benham's assertion that the nursery has now been given free PPE, but said it was "ten months too late".

In response to questions about the timing of the free roll-out, Cllr Benham said: "Just before Christmas, the council received free stock from the London Resilience Forum. Since then, we have been working on an ordering and delivery process to ensure that providers receive the appropriate amount of stock regularly.”

The manager of Elm Park's St Nicholas Church Pre-School nursery says the council isn't offering the level of support it claims. (Image: Google Maps)

The Recorder also pressed the council on two separate issues raised by Dawn; the first relates to why early years staff cannot access the self-testing Covid-19 sites available to schools in the borough.

Cllr Benham said: “The lateral flow device tests for education providers are managed by the Department for Education (DfE), not the council. Unfortunately, the DfE has confirmed that there are currently no plans to extend these tests to early years providers, and staff should continue to access rapid community testing sites.

"Havering Council has widened the availability of rapid community testing, with five sites across the borough now offering testing from 7am to 7pm weekdays, and 10am to 7pm on weekends."

The second issue centres on where early years providers rank in terms of priority for the vaccine, given their status as keyworkers.

The council's deputy leader said: "Decisions around priority groups receiving the vaccine are made at a national level, and is not something the council has a say in at this stage.

"As we understand it, there is no intention to prioritise vaccinations for early years staff. If staff fall into identified ‘at risk’ groups, have underlying clinical conditions, or are of an age that classes them as being at higher risk, then they could receive the vaccine under these circumstances.

“However, we will continue to push for the whole of the education workforce to be included in the next phase of the vaccination programme.”

Dawn's concerns come amidst a growing crisis facing the sector, with the Recorder reporting on February 3 that many Havering facilities face going out of business without more support.

Beyond the risk of contracting Covid-19 - increased because of a high level of exposure - reduced numbers are hitting nurseries and playgroups financially.

Dawn said her numbers have remained largely steady (around 28 of the 30 permitted children still attend), but the attendances do little to quash the health risks.