COVID-19 and Racing Staff with Children

Back to all news

Many racing staff are asking how they can get to work if the nurseries and schools are closed as they are from today onwards. Unfortunately, as you will see from the “Key Workers” listed by the government that racing staff are not on this list.

We fully understand the hardship this is going to cause to many parents in the industry and again, we are working with the Covid-19 industry group to see if we can get any help with this. However, as an industry and one of many in the same situation, we will just have to suffer the fact nurseries and schools are shut due to these extreme circumstances.

Whilst this is not ideal, and will no doubt have an impact on individuals, jobs and employers, this is something that is out of our control currently. Whilst the racing industry is in the “essential activities” jobs category itself, due to livestock and welfare of horses, staff in the industry are not classed as frontline workers or listed within the key workers below.

The government list of key workers is:

• Frontline health workers such as doctors and nurses
• Some teachers and social workers
• Workers in key public services including those essential to the justice system, religious staff, and public service journalists
• Local and national government workers deemed crucial to delivering essential public services
• Workers involved in food production processing, distribution, sale and delivery
• Public safety workers including police, armed forces personnel, firefighters, and prison staff
• Essential air, water, road and rail transport workers
• Utilities, communication and financial services staff, including postal workers, and waste disposal workers