The Government has published a supplement to the Early Years Census 2022 Guidance. This is in order to create a comprehensive snapshot of the early years provision available to parents/carers across the UK on the week commencing 17 January 2022.
They are asking providers to record the expected hours children would have been attending nursery even if the child is “temporarily absent, for example, sick or on holiday.” This includes if the child was sick with coronavirus, self-isolating, or was kept home by parents due to COVID fears.
Conversely, the provider could be struggling to remain open due to staff shortages caused by COVID or having to self-isolate. If so, they should still fill out Census 2022 with the level of provision they had contracted and expected.
Where providers had already anticipated lower levels of staff attendance due to COVID caution, they have been asked to reflect this in their Census returns. Click below to read the supplement in full.
