Guidance

Vulnerable children and young people, and critical workers

Updated 10 May 2023

Applies to England

This list explains who you may need to prioritise face-to-face provision for during an emergency.

Refer to the emergency planning and response for education, childcare, and children’s social care settings guidance before using this list.

Vulnerable children and young people (annex A)

Vulnerable children and young people include those who:

• are assessed as being in need under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, (including children and young people who have a child in need plan or a child protection plan) and children who are looked-after by the local authority
• have an education, health and care (EHC) plan
• have been identified as otherwise vulnerable by educational providers or local authorities (including children’s social care services), and who could therefore benefit from continued full-time attendance - this might include:
  • children and young people on the edge of receiving support from children’s social care services or in the process of being referred to children’s services or who have previously received support from children’s social care services (as identified by local authorities)
  • adopted children or children on a special guardianship order o those at risk of becoming NEET (‘not in employment, education or training’)
  • those living in temporary accommodation o those who are young carers
  • those who may have difficulty engaging with remote education at home (for example, due to a lack of devices or quiet space to study)
  • care leavers
  • children and young people in a family circumstance presenting challenges for them, such as drug and alcohol misuse, parental offending, adult mental health issues and domestic abuse
  • others at the provider and local authority’s discretion including pupils and students who need to attend to receive support or manage risks to their mental health

Critical workers (annex B)

We expect you to maximise the number of children, pupils and students who are in face-to-face provision during an emergency. If the impact of an emergency means that not everyone can attend face-to-face provision, we expect you to:

• inform parents as part of your emergency communications of the impact
• set out the groups you are prioritising for face-to-face provision
• invite parents to tell you if they meet one of the critical worker categories

Parents whose work is critical to an emergency response include those outlined in the following sections. If exceptional circumstances mean that attendance is temporarily limited, children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker can go to their setting if required, but parents and carers should keep their children at home if they can.

Health and social care

This includes, but is not limited to:

• doctors
• nurses
• midwives
• paramedics
• social workers
• care workers
• other frontline health and social care staff including volunteers
• support and specialist staff required to maintain the UK’s health and social care sector
• those working as part of the health and social care supply chain such as producers and distributors of:
  • medicines
  • medical and personal protective equipment

Education and childcare

This includes:

• childcare
• support and teaching staff
• social workers
• specialist education professionals

Key public services

This includes:

• those essential to the running of the justice system
• religious staff
• charities and workers delivering key frontline services
• those responsible for the management of the deceased
• journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting

Local and national government

This only includes those administrative occupations essential to the effective delivery of:

• an emergency response
• essential public services, such as the payment of benefits including in government agencies and arm’s length bodies

Food and other necessary goods

This includes those involved in food:

• production
• processing
• distribution
• sales and delivery

It also include those essential to the provision of other key goods (for example, hygienic and veterinary medicines).

Public safety and national security

This includes:

• police and support staff
• Ministry of Defence civilians
• contractor and armed forces personnel, for example those:
  • critical to the delivery of key defence and national security outputs
  • essential to an emergency response
• fire and rescue service employees (including support staff)
• National Crime Agency staff
• those maintaining border security
• prison and probation staff
• other national security roles, including those overseas

Transport

This includes those who will keep the air, water, road and rail passenger and freight transport modes operating during an emergency response. It also includes those working on transport systems through which supply chains pass.

Utilities, communication and financial services

This includes:

• staff needed for essential financial services provision, including but not limited to workers in:
  • banks
  • building societies
  • financial market infrastructure
• the oil, gas, electricity, and water sectors (including sewerage)
• information technology and data infrastructure sector and primary industry supplies to continue during an emergency response
• key staff working in the civil nuclear, chemicals, telecommunications including but not limited to:
  • network operations
  • field engineering
  • call centre staff
  • IT and data infrastructure
  • 999 and 111 critical services
• postal services and delivery
• payments providers
• waste disposal sectors