Question
Q – “How do you cover staff holidays or sickness? Do you have cover staff, and are these cover staff given set hours?”
Answers
A – I’m bank staff for a nursery I get some hours asked in advance and then sometimes a really early phone call to see If I can go in, we have 3 bank staff so we don’t have to get agency staff in that don’t know the kids/routine etc
A – We have some bank staff but they’re not contracted because we don’t know how often we’ll need them. Because of the uncertainty they are hard to keep although we often end up giving them at least two days a week, quite a large setting. Supernumery staff float to cover breaks if needed. I rang once about agency staff and was quoted £120 per day, we needed to cover a week holiday!! Ridiculously expensive so we’ve never used them, plus they’re not much use as they won’t know anything and won’t know the kids, bank far better option
A – Most settings have a list of bank staff and lunchtime cover or employ one member of staff over and above ratios so that if someone off sick they are still okay.
A – Bank Staff are a good resource, again check ratios when making the decision of how and when to use cover staff
A – Staff annual leave is not covered, we all just ‘muck in’. Long term sickness is sometimes covered.
A – We have relief staff.
A – We have bank staff and if push comes to shove we sometimes get agency staff