Cover Staff

[Guest]

Hi

 

I am a new Chair and feel like I could be using this forum a lot!

 

Anyhow I need to find some new cover staff and I wondered how others went about it! ie do you have people on zero hours contracts or do you use agency staff etc

 

Any information would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Kathryn

[AnonyMouse_3139]

Hello from a fellow chair

We have five staff members so even on busy sessions we can always afford for one of them to be off but if more than one are off we have in the past used an agency although we found it difficult to get someone who was happy to do just 3 hours and its quite costly especially if you're paying the member if staff who's off. We used to use a parent to help out but these days I'm the cover but that doesnt help you does it?

[AnonyMouse_3735]

Not committee but was manager and this is how we managed..

 

we used to have enough staff so 1 was always off on a day , they did the cover if we needed it.. this usually meant we did a job share type thing..

 

but we also worked well within ratios.. this meant that if one was off we were still in ratio anyway, and allowed for someone within the session to be doing the answer the phone, or door, talk to parents and all the other bits and the children still had the correct ratios so we had 3 staff for 15 children and 4 for our max of 20..

 

for really desperate times I had a few parents cleared who were willing to help as extra hands.. and had come in to help so knew the routine etc..

 

we never used an agency, thought it more cost effective to regularly employ the extra staff than pay the cost of the occasional agency who would have less knowledge of the group than a parent helper..

 

and welcome..

[AnonyMouse_19762]

Hi Kathryn and welcome to the forum!

 

Not committee run......we work 'over-ratio' everyday - 3 adults to a max of 12 children .......so we are covered in an 'emergency situation'.......however, if I know that one of us will be 'out' - training etc. I have an ex-parent who is CRB checked and she does 'supply' cover for me and for another local pre-school - she's a complete 'Godsend'!

I also have a couple of friends who are teachers and only working 'supply' or job-share at their primary schools.....I'm sure that I could persuade one of them to help out if needed (couldn't pay the sort of money they are used to though )

[AnonyMouse_19782]

Much the same as Sunnyday - except no teacher friends to call on

[AnonyMouse_11396]

Hi Kathryn and welcome to the forum.

We are over ratio so generally able to cover.

Have a fairly large pool of staff which can also help out when needed.

[AnonyMouse_30128]

Hello!

we have just moved and all staff now work full time or have time off to attend college so are not available. We find using parents(we are no longer committee led)difficult as so many of them work in this area or have small children at home and are unable to commit so we have engaged a Bank member of staff, who is a qulified nursery nurse and an ex parent, who wants to start to get back into the job market but is not yet ready to work full time. We have a very flexible arrangement and she is given as much notice as we can for cover days ...so far it has worked well, we train her as if she is a full member of staff. I also have a parent who is interested in working with us i intend to start getting her in to do some duties and train her up in the hope that she might want do continue in the future. I try to look out for opportunities to 'target' people for the future

[AnonyMouse_705]

Welcome to the forum.

 

My local authority has a staff bank of CRB checked, qualified to different level, practitioners that we could use, this would be fairly desperate measures though. We usually manage to cover with existing staff as we all know the routine, where everything is, the parents and the children (most importantly).

[AnonyMouse_8282]

I try to look out for opportunities to 'target' people for the future

 

 

You and me both!!!!

 

We do pretty much as finleysmaid.

[AnonyMouse_35577]

We have people on nil hours supply contracts. It always happens that they end up moving to a permanent contract though so we are constantly seeking new victims!

[AnonyMouse_11962]

Not committee run but used I be.

Most staff are part time so can cover if necessary. Also have one bank staff on 'as and when needed' contract so I just pay her for what hours she actually does.

[AnonyMouse_30128]

just a note to add that part time workers are entitled to holiday pay now so if you do employ someone like this then this cost needs to be taken into consideration too