Cheshire East is deciding on a case by case basis if children in the council's care should be given the Covid vaccine if their birth parents don't consent.

Annemarie Parker, head of service for cared for children and care leavers, told members of the council's corporate parenting committee that the local authority sought consent from the parents of cared for children aged 12 to 15.

"We have had a small number of children whose parents have decided they don't wish to consent," she said.

"And they have been managed on an individual basis and we're undertaking risk assessments to see whether we actually feel, as corporate parents, whether it's the right thing for them to have that vaccine."

Cllr Jos Saunders (Poynton East and Pott Shrigley, Con) raised concerns that some frontline workers caring for children weren't vaccinated themselves.

"We're talking about 90 per cent of our frontline staff have now been doubly vaccinated. What is Cheshire East current policy on staff being vaccinated?" she asked.

"I'm just thinking of vulnerable children, if they were being exposed, etc. How we manage that."

Ms Parker said the council encouraged staff to get vaccinated but couldn't force them to.

"We absolutely encourage it, but there are sometimes medical reasons why people can't have the vaccine," she said.

"Sometimes it is down to personal choice. Sometimes our staff are agency staff and we don't necessarily have the same sort of jurisdiction, if you like, in terms of encouraging them in the same way."

Cllr David Marren (Shavington, Ind) asked, with regard to agency staff: "Why isn't that a requirement?

And we just say to these agencies, don't bother supplying people unless they have been jabbed, because that's entirely lawful to do that, because obviously we've got the purchasing power to enforce that."

Ms Parker replied: "There's a national shortage of social workers at the moment and we're really struggling to recruit agency stuff.

"The other thing around that is we can't insist, it's against people's human rights to insist that they have the vaccine."