It is not permissible, under our Hybrid Working policy or our normal working arrangements, to simultaneously care for young children or anybody who cannot look after themselves during your working hours. See the Hybrid Working Policy for more details. As stated at the All Staff Briefing, we will continue to review how this is working in practice as we go along, and more formally after a few months of using it.

Schools and nurseries are open in term time as usual. There may however be sudden and local changes – e.g. your child is sent home to self-isolate or is unable to attend school.

During these unprecedented times we all need to find ways to be flexible – and this works both ways.  You may be able to flex your timetable – for example working first thing and last thing with a gap in the afternoon to take over childcare duties if you have another family member who can swap with you.   You may be asked to do different tasks, for example if you cannot do the work you would normally do with an adapted timetable or if somebody else in the team has to make changes.

Potential solutions will depend on the role that you do and your home situation so it is not possible to summarise all the options here.  It may be that whatever you come up with is not perfect and you will not be able to do as good a job as you could in the office.  In normal times it would be unacceptable to look after children (unless they can be self-sufficient) whilst you are working however these are not normal times.  We are all trying to find ways to make the best of the situation that we are in.

If you would like to discuss taking unpaid leave please see Q 28 above

At times when it is relevant (e.g. schools are only open to the vulnerable children or the children of critical workers):

The definition of critical workers in relation to local government is “Parents whose work is critical to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and EU transition response include those who work in health and social care and in other key sectors outlined in the following sections. Children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to school or college if required, but parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can”.

The definition of vulnerable children now includes children who “have difficulty engaging with remote education at home (for example due to a lack of devices or quiet space to study“

Please do read the guidance in full before considering your next steps and if you would like the HR team to write a letter requesting a place please email hr.admin@molevalley.gov.uk (you should copy your manager into the email). There are wide discrepancies in the way schools are responding to requests but to maximise the chances of your child being offered a place you will need to clearly articulate how you meet the criteria stated in the guidance. HR can talk you through this if you would like help.