London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 02, 2025

UK schools voice objections to ‘propping up’ Covid test and trace system, unpaid

UK schools voice objections to ‘propping up’ Covid test and trace system, unpaid

Bosses warn of an impending exodus by head teachers if government continues to withhold additional staff and resources
Schools have spent up to and in excess of 100 hours “propping up” the national Covid test and trace system since the start of the academic year, despite having no additional funding or staff, according to a school leaders’ union.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), which represents 29,000 UK school leaders, is calling for the responsibility for test and trace to be lifted from schools, amid fears of an exodus of head teachers once the Covid crisis has passed.

School leaders, already under extreme pressure due to the pandemic, have found themselves on call every weekend and holiday, receiving notifications of positive cases then notifying close contacts who need to self-isolate, the union says.

According to an NAHT poll of 400 leaders, they have spent on average an additional 44 hours on test and trace since the start of the school year, which equates to around seven extra school days, while many logged over 100 hours.

Speaking at a conference on Tuesday, the NAHT’s general secretary, Paul Whiteman, said: “It was just assumed that school leaders would take on this additional duty despite the government spending billions on a national test and trace system. Not a penny of that money was given to schools.

“To begin with, schools accepted that they were the people best placed to track and inform students when there was a Covid case in their school, because they were the ones who had all the contact information. But it has been a full year now and absolutely no effort has been made to release school leaders from this burden, or to give them additional staff or resources to do it.”

Whiteman said schools in areas with high infection rates had been hardest hit, and many staff found themselves – with little training or guidance – calling families at Christmas to break the bad news that they had to self-isolate because a close contact had been infected.

“The extra burden this has put on school leaders cannot be underestimated,” said Whiteman. “As we try to bring forward the next generation of school leaders at our conference today, the biggest barrier and concern we hear from aspiring head teachers is the level of pressure and the workload they see in the role.

“We are already anticipating an exodus by head teachers once the crisis has passed. One tangible thing the government could do right now to help is to remove the burden of running test and trace in schools and give leaders some free time back.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Head teachers and all school staff have gone above and beyond over the course of the pandemic to make sure the school environment is as safe as possible, and we are hugely grateful for all their work.

“We have provided extensive guidance to schools on how to manage the contact tracing process, including through keeping pupils in smaller bubbles to minimise the risk of transmission and make tracing easier. Our phone line has been available throughout the pandemic with trained staff who can answer queries and escalate to Public Health England as required.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
Nvidia Pledges Up to $100 Billion Investment in OpenAI to Power Massive AI Data Center Build-Out
U.S. Signals ‘Large and Forceful’ Support for Argentina Amid Market Turmoil
Nvidia and Abu Dhabi’s TII Launch First AI-&-Robotics Lab in the Middle East
Vietnam Faces Up to $25 Billion Export Loss as U.S. Tariffs Bite
Europe Signals Stronger Support for Taiwan at Major Taipei Defence Show
Indonesia Court Upholds Military Law Amid Concerns Over Expanded Civilian Role
Larry Ellison, Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch Join Trump-Backed Bid to Take Over TikTok
Trump and Musk Reunite Publicly for First Time Since Fallout at Kirk Memorial
Vietnam Closes 86 Million Untouched Bank Accounts Over Biometric ID Rules
×