Since August, all three- and four-year-olds and disadvantaged two-year-olds have been eligible for Scotland’s extended Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) offer.
Of the 90,890 children accessing the funded hours at the end of August, 88,122 (97 per cent) were using more than 600 hours and 79,262 (87 per cent) were accessing the full 1,140 hours, reveal figures from the Improvement Service - a non-governmental organisation in Scotland.
Children’s minister Clare Haughey said, ‘As well as saving families a significant amount of money, the 1,140 offer supports parents’ ability to work, train or study. We also know that high-quality Early Learning and Childcare helps to give children the best start in life, enriching their early years and giving them the confidence and skills they need to prepare them for school.’
Funding and delivery costs
National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Scotland has however raised concern over the sustainability of partner providers offering the 1,140 hours as many nurseries claim that the funding rate they receive from their local authority doesn’t cover their delivery costs.
Research by the NDNA in the summer revealed that a fifth of local authorities did not plan on increasing their funding rate to providers from August despite new rules stating that settings must pay all staff the Living Wage and provide a free meal to all children taking up the funded hours.
Chief executive Purnima Tanuku said, 'NDNA agreed partnership working principles with Cosla to make sure that all local authorities were treating nurseries fairly and we would ask all councils to make sure they honour this agreement. Nurseries must be able to continue investing in their quality of provision.'
