All nursery staff in England will at last be given COVID home-testing kits

Early years chiefs have welcomed the announcement by the Department for Education that all staff from the private, voluntary and independent nurseries (PVI) sector will have access to lateral flow device (LFD) testing at home.

From 22 March, all staff from PVI nursery settings will have access to twice-weekly LFD tests to use at home before they travel to work.

Previously only maintained nurseries and early years settings linked to schools had access to home asymptomatic test kits. All other private and voluntary settings were advised to access priority testing at community test centres, often many miles away or only open during working hours.

The early years sector has been campaigning for PVI nurseries to be treated the same as school nurseries and be given testing kits since December. The announcement has been welcomed by the Early Years Alliance and the National Day Nurseries Association. However they voiced frustration the sector will have to wait a month for the home testing to be rolled out.

Neil Leitch, Early Years Alliance chief executive, said: "After months of sector lobbying, today's announcement will come as welcome, though long overdue, news for private and voluntary nurseries and pre-schools – although many will be understandably frustrated they will have to wait a full month for this change to come into effect.

"As the number of COVID reports from early years settings continues to rise, it's clear the whole sector, without exception, must have access to home testing kits as soon as possible.

"At every stage of this crisis, PVI early years providers have had to fight to get the support they need to continue operating as safely as possible. It is incredibly disappointing that what should be a positive announcement for the sector has been undermined by more unequal treatment of hard-working early years professionals.”

'We hope the roll-out of this plan can happen as soon as possible'

The lateral flow device (LFD) testing is a fast and simple way to test people who do not have symptoms of COVID-19, but who may still be spreading the virus. The tests are easy to use and give results in 30 minutes. Those who test positive must immediately self-isolate to avoid passing the virus on to others.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of NDNA said: “There are two crucial pillars to keeping staff and children as safe as possible in early years settings, mass rapid testing and vaccination of critical workers. The announcement that all staff in PVI nurseries and pre-school settings will have the same access to testing as schools is fantastic news for the sector.

“We have worked hard alongside our members to ensure the practical and logistical challenges are overcome. Early years staff have been desperately waiting for this support since the scheme for schools was announced in December.

"We hope the roll-out of this plan can happen as soon as possible so early years workers can test at home before setting off to work, limiting the spread of the virus."

The Early Years Alliance and the NDNA are now calling on the government for early years workers to be prioritised for vaccinations as part of the next phase of the vaccination delivery plan.

Mr Leitch said: “Priority access to vaccinations remains crucial to safeguarding everyone working as a childminder or in a nursery or pre-school. We, therefore, continue to call on government and the JCVI to ensure all those who work in the early years get this vital protection as part of Phase 2 of the vaccination delivery plan.”

Ms Tanuku added: “The next stage has to be the question of vaccination for staff because that is how we can ensure they are as safe as possible and minimise the disruption of care and education for our youngest children.”

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