Nursery World - PVI settings and parents in Scotland cite funding ‘postcode lottery’

Parents in North Lanarkshire are speaking out about their struggles to gain access to funded childcare places in private and voluntary nurseries, with owners alleging they are being ‘squeezed out of the market’.

David Dawds has been turned down for funding at the private nursery of his choice and said the situation has caused his family unnecessary stress

Under the Scottish Government’s Funding Follows the Child (FFtC) policy, parents are able to access their child’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) entitlement from any provider in the PVI sector that has a place available and is contracted by the local authority.

But parents and providers are challenging North Lanarkshire’s commitment to FFtC amid the roll-out of the 1,140 hours, stating that it has created an ‘unfair postcode lottery’.

The council has denied the allegations, stating that 86 per cent of applicants have been offered a place with their first-choice provider this year.

However, when father of two, David Dawds, applied for a nursery place for his son, he was allocated his fourth choice in a council nursery that started at 8am and finished at 12.10pm each day.

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