Coronavirus: Parents fight ban on grandparent childcare

Many families rely on informal childcare from grandparents and family members

Parents who rely on grandparents to look after their children when they work are calling for them to be exempt from new Covid restrictions in the north-east of England.

The region's councils are also lobbying the government to rethink its refusal to exclude extended family childcare.

Rachel Cole-Fletcher from Newcastle, who has a three-year-old, said people would be forced to break the rules.

The Department for Health has been approached for comment.

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"People aren't going to risk losing their incomes over it, especially when they see people allowed to go out to pubs or grouse hunt," Dr Cole-Fletcher said.

"I've made a point of not breaking the rules because it's made me really cross when you see other people have, but I am getting to the stage now where there seems to be so little logic to the decisions that I'm starting to question them."

Seven North East councils had asked for stricter measures in response to rising infection rates but had requested extended childcare be exempt.

They have written to Health Secretary Matt Hancock calling on him to rethink his refusal.

'Unseen pillar'

Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes said many parents would "now face the difficult decision of whether they should work or look after their children", he said.

Not all could afford formal childcare, he said.

North East England Chamber of Commerce policy director Jonathan Walker said help provided by family and friends was an "unseen pillar upon which our economy rests".

A petition which has been started argues there is less risk in grandparents looking after children than in them mixing at nurseries, an afterschool club or with a childminder.

The new restrictions include a ban on households mixing in homes or gardens and pubs, cafes and restaurants closing at 22:00 BST.

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