Coversheet

Childcare for Essential Workers at Alert Level 3

Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister of Education

Hon Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development

These documents have been proactively released:

23 April 2020, Childcare for Essential Workers at Alert Level 3, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Social Development

22 April 2020, Aide Memoire: Childcare for Essential Workers at Alert Level 3, Ministry of Social Development

23 April 2020, COVID-19 Ministerial Group Minute of Decision: Childcare for Essential Workers at Alert Level 3, Cabinet Office.

The Cabinet paper was presented by Hon Chris Hipkins, Minister of Education, and Hon Carmel Sepuloni, Minister for Social Development. It updated the COVID-19 Ministerial Group on the uptake of childcare for children of essential workers at Alert Level 4 and provided advice on funding of the services at Alert Level 3.

Some parts of this information release would not be appropriate to release and, if requested, would be withheld under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act). Where this is the case, the relevant sections of the Act that would apply have been identified. Where information has been withheld, no public interest has been identified that would outweigh the reasons for withholding it. This is the key to the redaction codes used for this release:

• Section 9(2)(a): This information is withheld to protect the privacy of natural persons.

The Cabinet Minute of Decision has been released in full.

© Crown Copyright, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Search Tags: In-home childcare, essential workers, childcare support, OSCAR funding, ECE funding

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Meeting of the COVID-19 Ministerial Group

Minute of Decision

This document contains information for the New Zealand Cabinet. It must be treated in confidence and handled in accordance with any security classification, or other endorsement. The information can only be released, including under the Official Information Act 1982, by persons with the appropriate authority.

Childcare for Essential Workers at Alert Level 3

The group of Ministers with Power to Act on COVID-19 matters [CAB-20-MIN-0130) convened on 23 April 2020 at 10.30am, and in accordance with their Power to Act:

1 noted that funding of $27 million was granted for childcare for essential workers during the four-week lockdown period, and that this funding will end once New Zealand moves to Alert Level 3 on Tuesday 28 April 2020;

2 noted that uptake of this service has been relatively low, with around 800 families accessing the scheme;

3 noted that at Alert Level 3, schools will open for students in Years 1-10 where there are no care arrangements available for them or where they are not able to access learning at home;

4 agreed to extend in-home childcare for eligible parents from Out of School Care and Recreation (OSCAR) providers until 8 May 2020, but only where children cannot attend school because of underlying health conditions or where there are no alternative childcare arrangements available for before or after school hours;

5 invited the Minister for Social Development to report back to Cabinet before 8 May 2020 on the need for in-home childcare from OSCAR providers to continue;

6 noted that Early Childhood Education (ECE) services are permitted to open at Alert Level 3, but that some may choose not to open;

7 agreed to extend childcare for eligible parents through home-based ECE providers, including continued full funding to Friday 8 May 2020, to enable families and providers to transition back to their usual arrangements or to make new arrangements where necessary;

8 noted that as ECE providers are able to open under Alert Level 3, the Childcare Subsidy will resume for eligible parents whose children are attending ECE services that are operating after Alert Level 4 ends;

9 noted that the funding already appropriated for these services is sufficient to cover the extensions.

Rachel Hayward for Secretary of the Cabinet

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Distribution: The Cabinet Hon James Shaw

Copied to officials via email

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Decision paper: CHILDCARE FOR ESSENTIAL WORKERS AT ALERT LEVEL 3 ~

To COVID-19 Ministerial Group

From Ministry of Education, Ministry of Date 23/04/2020 Social Development

Purpose

1. This paper updates the COVID-19 Ministerial Group on the uptake to date of childcare for children of essential workers. It also seeks agreement to a transition period for in-home childcare services being provided by Out of School Care and Recreation (OSCAR) providers and home-based early childhood education (ECE) providers.

Background

2. On 25 March 2020, the group of Ministers with Power to Act on COVID-19 matters noted the need for childcare for children of essential workers during the four-week lockdown period. This is in the context of schools and early childhood education providers not being classified as essential services during the lockdown.

3. On Friday, 3 April the COVID-19 Ministerial Group (the Ministerial Group) agreed to a funding approach for childcare for children of essential workers. The Ministries of Social Development and Education would contract existing OSCAR providers and home-based ECE providers to provide this care.

4. The Ministerial Group directed officials to report back the uptake and estimated costs of the childcare provision by Thursday, 9 April. The Ministerial Group also directed officials to undertake modelling of provision of the service at Alert Level 3 and report back to COVI D-19 Ministers before 22 April 2020.

5. Now that more is known on the operation of schools and early learning services at Alert Level 3, this paper provides both the update and advice on childcare for essential workers at Alert Level 3. New Zealand will move down to Alert Level 3 on 28 April 2020.

Uptake of childcare for essential workers at Alert Level 4

Provision through OSCAR providers

6. As at 21 April 2020, the Ministry of Social Development had 49 active contracts for in-home childcare from OSCAR providers. The contracts have a total maximum value of $3.332 million. Contracts are demand based up to a maximum number of hours. The maximum is based on providers using their full workforce.

7. 6,284 childcare hours have been delivered so far, to at least 140 families and 260 children.

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8. There has been mixed feedback on whether demand has been met. Smaller providers have reported some lack of demand, but overall the constraint for providers is having access to an appropriate childcare workforce.

9. Earlier feedback from the sector indicated that a significant proportion of this workforce is over the age of 60 and may have underlying health conditions that would make them not suitable to be providing childcare services at this time. MSD has approached every OSCAR provider to try to ensure coverage, and will work directly with providers to ensure that employees in the workforce that are at higher risk do not provide childcare services during this time.

10. Providers have shown a strong interest to deliver these services when in Alert Level 3.

11. A decision paper of 2 April 2020 notes that funding for OSCAR services has been approved to 22 April 2020, and that if the lockdown is extended past that date, agreement to extend services would be needed. We are therefore seeking agreement to continue to deliver OSCAR services for the additional time at Alert Level 4.

Provision through home-based ECE providers

12. On 24 March, the Ministry of Education approached three large home-based providers (PORSE, Barnados, Edubase) about providing childcare for essential workers. These providers have been arranging childcare for essential workers since 26 March.

13. The first funding payments will be made this week. This is because contracts could not be provided until after funding arrangements were confirmed by the Ministerial Group. To date, 30 providers have signed contracts.

14. The Ministry has also set up a team to broker for other home-based providers from Monday 6 April. The brokering service has responded to 169 enquiries from parents. While there are areas where demand is exceeding supply, the number of queries from parents to the Ministry has significantly reduced.

15. As at Tuesday 21 April, around 660 families have had care arranged, covering some 1110 children. We estimate that the number of children still requiring care and supervision is around 400.

16. The first payment reflects 6,595 hours of childcare. However, this does not reflect all hours that have been provided, as not all providers, including the largest provider, have reported their hours to the Ministry.

Childcare for essential workers at Alert Level 3

17. On Monday 20 April, it was announced that New Zealand would move to Alert Level 3 from Tuesday 28 April for two weeks.

18. At Alert Level 3, more businesses will be able to operate. Schools and early learning providers will be open in a limited capacity, but we understand that OSCAR providers will not be operating.

19. We recommend that there is a transition period for ECE providers and OSCAR providers providing in-home childcare up to Friday 8 May during which the arrangements under level 4 will continue. This transition period will allow providers to transition into Alert level 3, and allow further time for Government consideration of childcare needs under level 3. It will also allow

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essential workers utilising home based services time to transition to their regular arrangements or to make new arrangements if necessary.

Schools will open, early learning services can open but may choose not to 20. Under Alert Level 3, children who can stay at home should stay at home. Children that are

at higher risk of COVID-19 or severe illness should also stay at home. Schools will physically be open for up to Year 10 for families that need them from 29 April.

21. Early learning services can open during Alert Level 3, except for playcentres and playgroups. Some services may choose not to open at Alert Level 3 – for example, if staff are at high risk from COVID-19. Most services have received Ministry of Education advance funding covering 1 March to 30 June, which will not be clawed back regardless of children’s attendance over this period. This dampens the financial incentive to open during Alert Level 3, though services that choose not to open risk families enrolling their children in alternative services.

22. In both schools and early learning centre-based services, groups of children will be limited to 10. This can be increased to 20 once all processes are running smoothly. Schools and early learning centres can have multiple groups of children on their premises, but groups of children must not mix. To minimise mixing of groups of children, OSCAR providers cannot resume their usual programmes.1

23. Home-based ECE providers can largely return to normal operation. This is because no more than four children can attend in a single home at any one time. Some educators are in high risk categories so may not be able to work at Alert Level 3.

24. The Ministry of Education is working with schools and services to support them to implement additional public health measures, such as staggered entry times, contact tracing registers and increased disinfection of surfaces.

Extending in-home childcare from OSCAR providers 25. At Alert Level 3, Schools will be physically open for children aged 5-14 years, however as

noted earlier, children who can stay at home should stay at home. We expect most children will likely remain home under Alert Level 3 and continue with distance learning. However there may be children aged 5 to 14 years in need of childcare who are either unable to attend school, or require care outside of school hours.

26. Essential workers were permitted to extend their bubble at Alert Level 4 in order to make childcare arrangements. There was a clear preference that this childcare be provided by a trusted friend or family member who was willing to extend their bubble. However, it was accepted that this kind of community childcare would not be possible for all families. For families where community childcare was not possible for school-aged children, OSCAR providers were re-contracted to provide in-home childcare, with a single carer assigned to a single bubble.

27. At Alert Level 3, people are able to expand their bubble to reconnect with close family / whānau or bring in caregivers. This, combined with the ability for children to attend school, may allow families, who have accessed in-home childcare from OSCAR providers at Alert Level 4, to make alternative childcare arrangements at Alert Level 3. This increase in options for childcare

1 OSCAR providers often collect children from different schools and have them attend programmes together (at a school or facility

such as a community hall).

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will drive a decrease in demand for in-home childcare services from OSCAR providers - which should only be accessed as a last resort.

28. The workers deemed essential at Alert Level 4 will be no less essential at Alert Level 3. We also acknowledge that there may be a need for childcare outside of school hours. In order to ensure that this workforce is fully operational at Alert Level 3, we are proposing that the existing in-home childcare provided by OSCAR providers continue for essential workers2 until 8 May as a transition period.

29. This will allow us time to assess the effect that Alert Level 3 has on demand for these services, and the appropriateness of them continuing for longer. We will report back on uptake before the end of this transition period, and provide further advice on continuing the service.

30. To deliver these services at Alert Level 3, the Ministry of Social Development will extend the existing contracts with OSCAR providers, using the same terms as Alert Level 4. As under the current settings, providers will be given flexibility to determine when in-home childcare is appropriate for families on an individual basis.

31. The funding appropriated to Vote Social Development for in-home childcare from OSCAR providers exceeded the demand during Alert Level 4. There is therefore sufficient funding already available to cover the service at Alert Level 3.

Funding issues for OSCAR providers

32. Providing in-home childcare has given OSCAR providers an alternative revenue stream while they have been unable to operate at Alert Level 4. If OSCAR providers are unable to operate for an extended period at Alert Level 3, this will increase the risk of them failing. They will also not be able to receive the OSCAR subsidy (paid under MSD’s Childcare Assistance) during this period as they are not operating.

33. Under normal circumstances, OSCAR programmes play an important role in the education system, providing care for children around school hours. It will be important that these providers are ready to return to business-as-usual when the school system does so. We will provide further advice on their viability if Alert Level 3 is in place for an extended period, and their contracts for in-home childcare services end, in the report back before 8 May.

Allowing a transition period for home-based ECE services

34. As noted above, home-based ECE services can largely return to normal operations with some additional public health measures at Alert Level 3. Educators who are providing childcare for essential workers cannot at the same time resume working with their regular families.

35. Essential workers will be able to send their school aged children to school during Alert Level 3. They may also be able to return to their usual ECE arrangements for their children under five. However, some ECE services may not open, so essential workers may need to make alternative arrangements.

2 There will be many more families who have non-essential workers returning to work, who may not be able to find alternative

childcare arrangements. We do not propose to offer childcare from OSCAR providers to non-essential workers at this stage as this would result in a significant increase in demand.

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36. We recommend a transition period to enable parents to return to existing care arrangements or to make new care arrangements where necessary. We suggest that the transition period extend one week into Alert Level 3 to Friday 8 May.

37. The funding appropriated to Vote Education for this service exceeded the demand during Alert Level 4. There is therefore sufficient funding to cover an additional week of provision at Alert Level 3. The Ministry of Education will extend the existing contracts for services with ECE providers using the same terms as Alert Level 4.

38. As ECE services are able to operate in Alert Level 3, we expect services who are able to operate safely to return to standard operating practice. This includes charging fees to parents utilising services. It will therefore be appropriate for the Childcare Subsidy (paid under MSD’s Childcare Assistance) to be paid for parents who are eligible, and whose children attend ECE services that are operating.

Recommendations

39. We recommend that you:

a. note that funding of $27m was granted for childcare for essential workers during the four-week lockdown period, and this funding will end once New Zealand moves to Alert Level 3 on Tuesday 28 April

b. note that uptake of this service has been relatively low, with around 800 families accessing the scheme

c. note that at Alert Level 3, schools will open for students in Years 1-10 where there are no care arrangements available for them or where they are not able to access learning at home

d. agree to extend in-home childcare for essential workers from OSCAR providers until 8 May, but only where children cannot attend school because of underlying health conditions or where there are no alternative childcare arrangements available for before or after school hours

e. direct the Minister for Social Development to provide a further report-back on the need for in-home childcare from OSCAR providers to continue, before 8 May

f. note that ECE services are permitted to open at Alert Level 3, but some may choose not to open

g. agree to extend childcare for essential workers through home-based ECE providers including continued full funding to Friday 8 May, to enable families and providers to transition back to their usual arrangements or to make new arrangements where necessary

h. note that as ECE providers are able to open under Alert Level 3, the Childcare Subsidy will resume for eligible parents whose children are attending ECE services that are operating after Alert Level 4 ends

i. note that the funding already appropriated for these services is sufficient to cover the extensions.

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