Teachers and other school and council staff are being asked to volunteer in the care sector to plug staff shortages caused by Covid.
The extraordinary move by Ceredigion Council was met with disbelief by unions. They Association of School and College Leaders Cymru and Nasuwt Cymru said it was "robbing Peter to pay Paul". The NEU Cymru said it was "deeply concerned" and school staff were already stretched too thinly .
Teachers and other staff were busy enough already preparing for the start of term and volunteering in the care sector could also risk bringing Covid into schools, they said.
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Care homes and the care sector are facing a major staffing crisis with large numbers of staff members either sick or self isolating and Ceredigion Council said it is asking all its staff, including teachers and all those working in schools, to volunteer to help care for the vulnerable.
A spokesperson confirmed there are shortages of care staff, but could not confirm how many or what the impact was.
The message sent by Ceredigion Council to teachers and other council staff, seen by WalesOnline, says: "The Omicron variant is already leading to staff shortages in key services, especially social care.
"We are asking you kindly as a council worker who already has a DBS to show your willingness to be called upon to help in the care sector if needed. This would mainly involve calling with a vulnerable adult, e.g. elderly, if the usual carer cannot do so due to illness.
"We would be most grateful if you could return this short form as soon as possible. Any travel costs or additional hours will be paid."
The form asks recipients to say which school they work for and to tick whether they are a teacher, teaching assistant, administrator, kitchen staff, cleaner, caretaker, supervisor, youth worker or other council employee.
Schools in Ceredigion won’t open for face to face teaching until January 10 for most pupils, a decision the council seemed to suggest was partly owing to a shortage of staff in the care sector.
In a statement Ceredigion Council said: “The number of Covid-19 cases in Ceredigion continues to be exceptionally high at a rate of 1,587 per 100,000 of the population, with 1,154 of cases reported in the last 7 days.
“The council is facing increasing staffing absences across all its services due to the Omicron variant.
“Re-opening (schools) on 10 January 2022 will allow the implementation of contingency plans to enable continuation of care for the most vulnerable in our society.
“We are kindly asking staff to volunteer as contingency staff should the council need additional capacity, particularly in the care sector.
“At times, staff absences in schools may lead to re-establishing distance learning for a period of time. Schools continue to work in challenging conditions and we thank all for their co-operation.”
Asked whether school staff have been asked to volunteer a council spokesperson added:
“Our priority is to ensure that we are able to care for the most vulnerable in our communities.
“The council is putting contingency arrangements in place in the event that staff need to be redeployed over the coming weeks. All council staff have been asked to volunteer for redeployment to support critical frontline services.”
Asked whether that included all education staff employed by the council, the spokesperson confirmed: “Yes. All council staff with a DBS, including internal corporate staff, have been asked to volunteer to add capacity to social care, if needed.”
DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks are required for volunteers or employees working in care, with children or vulnerable people. As school staff are required to have up to date, clean DBS checks they would be clear to work with other vulnerable groups in care.
Eithne Hughes, Director of ASCL Cymru said:”There are a lot of possible negative consequences.
“Everyone wants to help the care sector but front line teachers need to stay on the front line to help keep schools open and staff such as school cleaners and care takers are also part of the work in keeping schools open.
“It’s not just teachers who are needed to keep schools open.
“If people want to volunteer that is up to them at the end of the day but teachers have an enormous amount to prepare for, including remote learning, partial remote learning and face to face learning this term.
“I am not sure anyone will have time to do more work and we need our school staff healthy and well enough for face to face teaching. Nothing should compromise the health of the profession.”
Neil Butler, Nasuwt Cymru, added: "I cannot see how teachers can be involved.
"We are aware that there are severe teacher shortages and that the Education Minister has asked teachers to prepare for remote learning if schools need to move to blended learning because of those shortages.
"Schools are also a critical frontline service and the council need to be very careful about 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'.
"If this is about redeployment then I think Ceredigion will find they have enough problems with teacher shortages and this would make them worse.
"As I said before "robbing Peter to pay Paul." If this is about extra work then I think teachers have enough on their plates at the moment to consider taking on more work."
David Evans, Wales Secretary for the National Education Union Cymru, said young people and education must be a priority.
He added: "NEU Cymru are deeply concerned by this suggestion, and will be contacting Ceredigion Council about this.
"Our members want to see minimal disruption to education, after such a difficult couple of years for staff and students alike.
"Schools are already monitoring whether they have enough staff, both now and in the near future, to open safely and provide the standard of education that we all desire.
"Young people and their learning must be a school's priority and although we appreciate these are difficult times we have to recognise that staff in schools are already stretched too thin and we have to protect and hopefully enhance what we have."
But Laura Doel, Director of the National Association of Headteachers Cymru said the request for help had "no bearing on the reopening of schools".
“I understand that Ceredigion local authority has asked for any DBS-checked staff to volunteer to support the domiciliary care service," she said.
"I am assured by the local authority that this is not compulsory and that it is simply to be on hand if the service need demands additional support.
"The level of support required would be that of a good neighbour, checking in on people and not providing any caring duties. This call has had no bearing on the reopening of schools or caused any disruption to school operations.
“I have no doubt that if school staff are able to support in a crisis then they will, but this does demonstrate the severity of the situation in parts of Wales.
"The public sector as a whole is under tremendous pressure and therefore it is vital that mitigation measures in schools are robust enough that the reopening does not result in a huge rise in covid cases."
Care staff shortages
Meanwhile Powys Council said it has just established three Care Homes Emergency Response Teams (north, mid and south) with staff who have volunteered to be deployed to help in a care home if needed.
But a spokesman said it was unlikely this would include asking education staff to volunteer,
Powys Council said in a statement: “In the event of needing to be deployed members (of the three emergency response teams) will be temporarily released from their normal council work duties to do this.
“The team members will only be deployed in a care home as a final measure once all other alternatives have been exhausted by the council.
“We have also stood up a Resources Cell that will meet daily for the time being to understand the impact on individual services and manage our collective response as well as working with local and regional public sector partners to manage the challenge.”
Asked if teachers and other school staff were part of the teams, or would be asked to volunteer a Powys Council spokesperson said: “It is unlikely to include education staff. Under business continuity we release roles considered non-critical but that wouldn’t include school staff. Schools also manage their own staff and have their own pressures.”
Powys Council added: "Powys County Council does not manage care homes directly and, therefore, cannot say what are levels of staff shortages within care homes.
"However, we are able to say that care homes and domiciliary care providers are experiencing staff absences and staffing shortages and that as of the 5th of January 2021 there are 10 older persons' care homes in Powys not open to admission."
Pupils in exam years 11 and 13 in Ceredigion will get face to face teaching from January 7 but other pupils not until January 10, the council confirmed.
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