Key Workers in Scotland

[Woody Guthrie]

Which key workers qualify for critical childcare and learning provision?

We have asked local authorities to make provision for children of key workers in their areas to ensure that their parents can continue to work.

The initial definition of key workers is as follows. There should be a particular focus on:

Key workers in posts which ensure that essential services can be delivered and cover tasks within the local community which support the vulnerable and aid community resilience. This may be slightly different in each community to allow the country to address local priorities. Whilst decisions will be taken at the local level, we would expect this to include consideration of:

Category 1 – Health and Care workers directly supporting COVID response, and associated staff; Health and Care workers supporting life threatening emergency work, as well as critical primary and community care provision; Energy suppliers (small numbers identified as top priority already); staff providing childcare/learning for other category 1 staff.

Category 2 – All other Health and Care workers, and wider public sector workers providing emergency/critical welfare services (e.g Fire, Police, Prisons, Social Workers, etc), as well as those supporting our Critical National Infrastructure, without whom serious damage to the welfare of the people of Scotland could be caused.

Category 3 – All workers (private, public or third sector) without whom there could be a significant impact on Scotland (but where the response to COVID-19, or the ability to perform essential tasks to keep the country running, would not be severely compromised).

Local authorities have been asked to take this definition as a guide and prioritise critical childcare and learning for key workers accordingly. They should consider any circumstances that mean that specific classes of worker are critical in their local contexts.

NB: This definition may be updated to take account of developing circumstances. Please check back here regularly to ensure you stay up to date.

Will all key workers qualify for critical childcare and learning provision?

We have told local authorities that, if one parent is a key worker and the other is not, the non-key worker should normally be expected to provide childcare. If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be.

In general, we expect that if key workers can perform their critical functions effectively when working remotely from home, they should do so. Parents should not rely for childcare upon those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions.

We will provide further guidance on this shortly.

What critical childcare and learning provision will be in place in my area?
Local authorities will decide what learning and childcare arrangements for the children of key workers are most appropriate for local circumstances.

We have asked, where possible, that provision is made available beyond the school day, in partnership with providers of out of school care and after school and holiday clubs. However, this will depend on the provision that local authorities are able to make in their local areas.

From when will critical childcare and learning provision for key workers be in place?
We are working closely with local authorities to get critical childcare and learning provision in place as soon as we can. We expect local authority planning to continue into next week.

Who should I contact if I have questions about this?
Please contact your local authority for information about the arrangements they are putting in place. See the contact details for your local authority.