PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE TO SIGN OUR PETITION TO SUPPORT US AS KEY WORKERS IN EDUCATION AND TO HELP SETTINGS TO REMAIN OPEN AS MANY SETTINGS ARE CLOSING WITHOUT THIS FUNDING...EVERY SIGNATURE COUNTS

On the 18th March, the Education Secretary announced that all educational settings in the UK had to close as of the following Monday due to COVID-19; this applied to all children whose parents that were not a key person. This decision has affected all educational settings including nurseries, out of school provisions and childminders.

The government announced several financial packages to help educational settings, but a lot of settings are not entitled to the Small Business Grant. due to their settings being exempt from business rates. It's these smaller settings that are finding it harder to sustain their settings with having no the income from non-keyworker families coming through but then also little financial support from the government. 

Parents cannot pay fees, even at a reduced percentage, whilst their children are not accessing the education. Many settings have had to close as they cannot remain open on the small incomes coming in, therefore not being able to even offer services to the much needed keyworkers. The Small Business Grant should be made available to all nursery settings that are registered by Ofsted, CIW or alternative, not just in receipt of business rates nor rate reliefs. If a property used has no rateable value, like council buildings, church halls etc, then they cannot be awarded the grant. Let's change this to enable all settings to receive the Small Business Grant to allow them to reopen once this pandemic is over and for smaller settings to remain open to keyworkers during this time.