Nursery World - Early years settings told they can relax ratios as Covid deemed an 'exceptional circumstance'

The Department for Education has confirmed that early years settings struggling with staff absences due to Covid can relax their ratios in line with the EYFS.

Nurseries have been struggling with staff shortages amid rising cases of the Omicron variant PHOTO Adobe Stock

It is recognition of the significant pressures that early years settings are facing with the Omicron variant leading to a rise in staff absences.

As we reported yesterday, the number of notifications to Ofsted of Covid more than doubled in the two weeks between 6 and 20 December.

The EYFS already includes the option for settings to relax their ratios in 'exceptional circumstances', however this is the first time that the Government has explicitly stated that it considers the current situation with Covid to be an ‘exceptional circumstance’ on which basis the ratio requirements in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework can temporarily be changed.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included