Sitter services are inadequate to meet demand from parents and suffer from long-term funding uncertainty, research for the Scottish Executive has found.
A study funded by the Scottish Executive found that sitter services, which offer home-based childcare from morning to evening seven days a week, have benefited parents needing childcare to allow them to work unsociable hours as well as those needing a respite from caring for disabled children. But demand has far outstripped supply.
In the report, The sitter service in Scotland: A study of the costs and benefits, researchers analysed seven services, catering for 428 families in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kilmar- nock, North Lanarkshire and Inverclyde. It found that waiting lists for services currently ranged from 34 per cent to 88 per cent of the total number of families they had helped in the previous year - a measure of the demand from those aware that services were available, as in many parts of Scotland they are not.
The report found that sitter services benefited the wider community. Parents and sitters alike were able to gain paid employment and spend money locally, and the number of 'latch-key children' was reduced, with a possible reduction in juvenile crime and the number of children in care.
Ann McKenzie, national development manager for the sitter services, who also works for One Parent Families Scotland, said both of the services provided by her organisation have always had waiting lists of parents who were healthcare workers, students or supermarket staff.
Ms McKenzie said, 'There are not many childcare providers that operate after 6pm and weekends as well. We are part of the whole childcare picture. People's employment patterns are changing and there needs to be childcare for that trend.'
She said that funding sitter services was difficult because it lacked recognition as a distinct form of childcare. This was reflected in the report, which said, 'Long-term funding is clearly an issue for all services.'
While an organisation might have a funding stream to provide care for children aged nought to three, and another to meet demand for out-of-school care for older children, Ms McKenzie said, it cannot move resources from one form of care to another. 'There is no ring-fenced money for sitter services,' she said.
Ms McKenzie called for the Scottish Executive to recognise that staff costs were often high with the sitter service because of its one-to-one child-to-carer ratio.
Following the report, a Scottish Executive spokeswoman said, 'We are funding a development worker to promote and expand sitter services. The Scottish Budget is doubling the amount available for the childcare strategy from 19.25m this year to more than 40m in 2005/06. These resources should ensure local authorities and their childcare partnerships can support the development of sitter services if it suits local circumstances.'
However, even if the sitter services had the funding to expand, the report's authors said they were unconvinced that there would be a sufficient number of qualified childcare workers to staff them.
Ms McKenzie said, 'We are keeping people within the childcare sector and offering employment opportunities that are part-time. The majority of work is available on a sessional basis. We can be flexible for employees given the availability.'
In England, a similar initiative, the home carers scheme, which at present is only open to registered childminders, has made little or no impact since its introduction in April. The scheme has had a very low take-up because the childminder would be expected to be a paid employee of the parents.
