Question
Q – “If I am due to work a session and we are over ratio, what are my rights? Am I within my rights to refuse to work unless another member of staff or agency person is brought in? If I did work and something were to happen, would I be able to be held accountable at all or would it be all down to the Manager? Would there be any repercussions on me at all? What if it was only brought to my attention on the day that we were going to be out of ration?”
Answers
A – “Some advice here to ensuring this doesn’t happen and staff are never left out of ratio
A – “Woah!! This is illegal!! Put in writing to your superior that as per your duty to safeguard children then u will have no choice to report to ofsted!! Totally unacceptable and unfair for u to be put in this position”
A – “Actually, I think you might have to whistle blow this situation. Go over the manager’s head. Everyone has a duty to ensure the safety and well being of the children.”
A – “While I agree that ratios should never be out, and the over all responsibility of this lies with the manager. I do feel practitioners need to take ownership of this as well. A manager can only act on the information they have. If for some reason ratios changed and the manager didn’t know ( they might be in a private meeting and not see a child leave or enter setting) then I would expect the practitioners to realise and act accordingly, thing could mean they move staff around if they are able or inform the manager straight away so they can deal with it.”
A – “Put your foot down, look after yourself and the wellbeing of the children in your care. Ratios are there to protect all of you. We all know the possible repercussions with being over ratio. Who is responsible for safeguarding and health and safety? Everyone.”
A – “Taken this information by all who have commented. There is some flexibility to it. You can email ofsted for advice and from my discovering there is a grey area on this.”
A – “If you are regularly working over ratio – raise it with your manager at supervision and ensure you have it in writing. If nothing improves then you should speak to the organisation who regulates you – CSSIW in Wales, I think it’s Ofsted in England. The Registered Person is responsible for ensuring staffing ratios are met under CSSiW and you would not be held accountable for ratios being over. However every practitioner has a responsibility to raise concerns with the registering body. My advice is to speak to manager and if it’s re occurring to take advice informally or anonymously in the beginning from the registering body”
A – “I agree that you should never be out of ratio but your manager could also just turn around and say that she is in the building so can be counted within ratio. But if it does happen often you should definitely say something to ofsted and no you would not be held accountable for it but you should always make your manager aware of the situation (with someone else in hearing distance) so they can not say that they were not told of the situation”
A – “EVERYONE has a duty to safeguard children. Who is responsible if something happened is an issue for those investigating, suing or prosecuting. However I would ask, if something was to happen on your watch, and you ‘accepted’ unlawful ratio’s, would yo be able to walk away feeling like you had done what you needed to to safeguard those you were responsible for? If a child choked and God forbid, died, could you handle it? Could you look their parents in the eye and say ‘not my issue’ It may sound heavy and that I’m being too dramatic but you must always think….. ‘what if it happened here?’”
A – “Hmmmm grey areas. I was told as long as you risk assess it maybe ok now and again.”
If I amon my unpaid lunch break can I still be counted in the settings ratios?
I have been working out of ratio since last year. There are other classrooms that are out of ratio as well, but we have all told the assistant director and the owner that we are out of ratio. The assistant director told me she would try and get another teacher to help, but that never happened. Recently, the assistant director added another child willingly and knowingly that we were already out of ratio. There have been several incidents but thank God they were very minor. The major issue is with being over ratio the teachers are unable to care for the children or provide more assurance of their safety.
The assistant director tried to blame the teachers for there being too many incidents when she was the one who put too many children in a small room without enough teachers.
I am very concerned about the state coming in and finding out we are over ratio or if a serious accident happens to a child because we are over ratio. What should we do?