Falkirk Council to move 150 children from flexible funded places from private nurseries to their council settings
Private and voluntary nurseries in Falkirk are fighting for survival because Falkirk Council plans to remove 150 children from funded nursery places into council-run settings.
National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Scotland is opposing the proposals on the grounds that it removes parental choice, will seriously threaten the sustainability of existing nursery provision for current and future families and could remove nursery provision for eligible twos. If nurseries are unable to remain sustainable, this could harm the number of places in the future for under twos who are not funded.
Parenting campaign organisation Pregnant Then Screwed warns this proposal would see women being forced to leave the labour market.
The council intends to move 150 three and four-year-old children from their settled nursery places where they currently receive their 1140 hours of funded early learning and childcare in a flexible way throughout the year. This suits the needs of working families. These council nurseries only offer places from 9am until 3pm during term time.
What the council proposes goes directly against Scottish Government’s principles of provider neutrality, funding following the child and parental choice as ELC core values.
There are 14 private nurseries in the Falkirk area but one of them is closing in April. The council has told the remaining 13 nurseries now that they need to remove between ten and 15 children each. For the second year this is likely to include their funded two-year-olds as well.
Falkirk Council’s Equality Poverty and Impact Assessment completed by the Service and School Improvement Team sets out the risks of this project to parents, staff and businesses. This proposal will impact upon:
• the availability and flexibility of places for parents
• providers income and sustainability
• outstanding vacancies in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nurseries as well as the loss of 150 children
• staffing in PVI who will lose their jobs and there is no guarantee of equivalent work.
NDNA’s CEO Purnima Tanuku CBE said: “This cost-saving measure that Falkirk Council has come up with is an appalling plan which would upset the lives of 150 families and many more going forward. It would also seriously threaten the sustainability of the 13 nurseries left in the district.
“Private and voluntary nurseries are vital for working parents because they deliver high quality education and care all year round. Most open around 8am and close around 6pm. Council nurseries do not offer this flexibility and so could lead to additional care having to be put in place so parents can continue working.
“Moving children disrupts their continuity of care. But also these nurseries would not be able to guarantee future funded places, so parents are likely to take their children elsewhere. These nurseries are unlikely to survive for long if the council persists with this misguided plan which would remove flexibility in the district. It’s unlikely there would be many, if any, available places for under twos if nurseries were forced to close.
“This is a short-sighted proposal which will result in a much reduced, more rigid local offer for early learning and childcare in the years to come.”
Wellside Kindergarten is one of the nurseries which will be affected. Susan Hill, Wellside owner said: “We can scarcely believe that the council could hold us in such contempt and treat us in this way. We have been delivering high quality funded ELC places for 25 years as a partner provider for the council.
“Working families need the flexible provision we deliver. How are we supposed to decide which children from which families would need to take up their hours elsewhere? What if they are moved to a council-run nursery ten miles away? Or if they have to move one child but keep a younger sibling in our nursery because there are no council places for under twos?
“What will this mean for families in Falkirk over the next few years when all the private nurseries have had to close? Private nurseries should not be paying the price for the council’s financial situation. I really fear for the future of the nursery, for our children and staff and for the families who will have a huge amount of upheaval if this proposal goes ahead.”
Susan added that it would be difficult to fill future places without the guarantee that children could get funded ELC places once they turned three years old.
Campaigning organisation Pregnant Then Screwed fear the decision could force more women out of employment.
Pregnant Then Screwed’s Head of Policy and Campaigns in Scotland, Carole Erskine, said: “This is an extremely disappointing and short-sighted proposal from Falkirk Council. Childcare is not a luxury – accessible and high quality childcare is needed by parents to allow them to work and provide for their family. If passed, this decision will push more women out of the labour market as they will not be able to work and have their children looked after in the hours provided by council-run nurseries. It also flouts the policies of ‘funding following the child’ and ‘Getting it Right for Every Child’.
“This decision shows how the Scottish Government’s policy for 1140 funded hours of childcare for three and four year olds is crumbling across Scotland. Councils are continually chipping away at this flagship policy and parents, predominantly mothers, are left picking up the pieces. We would urge councillors to reject this decision and put the interests of families in their area first.”
Stephen Kerr, MSP for Central Scotland, is keen to support the Falkirk PVI nurseries.
He said: “This proposal from Falkirk Council is a direct attack on parental choice and the very principle of flexibility in early learning and childcare. PVI nurseries provide an essential service to working families, offering year-round, full-day care that council-run nurseries simply do not. Forcing 150 children out of their settled nursery places and into local authority settings—where hours are more rigid and do not suit many parents’ working lives—is not only disruptive but completely unjustifiable.
“There is no financial case for this move. The PVI sector delivers 15% of the early learning and childcare provision in Falkirk yet receives just 7.3% of the Council’s ELC budget. It is the most cost-effective way to provide high-quality nursery education, and yet it is being undermined. This decision smacks of institutional bias — Falkirk Council both funds PVI nurseries and runs its own competing provision, making this an unfair playing field where private and voluntary nurseries are at risk of being squeezed out.
“This short-sighted move could force longstanding, well-loved nurseries to close, leading to fewer places and less choice for families across Falkirk. The consequences will be felt not just now, but for years to come, as the area’s childcare provision is weakened beyond repair. I will continue to stand with PVI nurseries, staff, and families in fighting this damaging proposal and holding Falkirk Council to account for the chaos it is causing.”
Falkirk’s full council meeting takes place on Thursday 6 March in Grangemouth.
- Scotland
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