Scotland’s Childcare Guarantee calls for expanded funded hours
Image credits: Chris Watt Photography
Pregnant Then Screwed Scotland has launched a new campaign: Scotland’s Childcare Guarantee. The charity, working alongside the New Economics Foundation and supported by Oxfam Scotland and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation , highlights the urgent need for reform, with many families currently struggling to afford childcare. The report also outlines that all children over nine months old will receive funded childcare, and parents will pay for additional hours depending on their income.
Scotland’s Childcare Guarantee proposes:
Expanded funded hours from 9 months old:
- 570 hours per year for babies (9–12 months) and all one-year-olds.
- 570 hours per year for two-year-olds (with 1140 hours for low-income families, unchanged).
- 1140 hours per year for all 3–5 year olds (unchanged).
A 5% cap on childcare costs for any additional hours, ensuring no household pays more than 5% of their income.
If adopted, the Guarantee is said to save low-income families around £4,000 annually, as well as bigger gains for larger families (with two or three children). Lone parents and mothers under 25 will see the highest percentage uplift.
Nursery pop up outside Scottish Parliament
To launch the campaign, organisers staged a ‘Naewhere Nursery’ pop-up outside Holyrood, symbolising the lack of affordable childcare options and calling for systemic change.
The 5% cost cap
The proposal introduced a 5% cap on childcare costs, meaning parents would never pay more than 5% of their household income on childcare. Anything above this threshold would be covered by public funds.
You can read more about the initiative here.
NDNA takeaways
Tim McLachlan, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Scotland said:
“Supporting more children into affordable, high quality early learning and childcare is the right ambition to have to improve children’s outcomes and life chances. We all want to see more investment in our children’s futures in a way that helps families and is sustainable for nurseries.
“Funded ELC is clearly not working for everyone, with most providers struggling to manage as they are paid unsustainable rates and find it difficult to recruit the qualified staff they need. As a result, parents cannot always get the places or hours that suit their needs.
“Our recent investigation showed that a third of local authorities have failed to take into account rising food and energy prices and costs other than staffing in setting their hourly rates this year. This results in many nurseries having to offer funded places at a loss.
“As we go into an election year, it is vital that the Government fixes the current system immediately and certainly before making new promises of funded hours to parents. If the offers are not sustainable then settings will continue to close and parents and children will lose out.”
Please also note:
19% of parents of 3-5yr olds and 5% of parents of 2yr olds who don’t access the full 1140 ELC hours is due to them not being able to find the right sessions. https://www.gov.scot/publications/parents-views-use-early-learning-childcare-scotland-2022/
From the report:
“Lack of flexibility was a key barrier for a substantial proportion of the parents of three to five year olds not using funded ELC, in terms of opening hours, sessions and the settings available.”
“Just over a fifth of parents gave reasons (for choosing a setting) linked to restricted options (such as short/no waiting list, the only option in the local area). Parents in rural areas were more likely than others to give one of these reasons (27% vs 19%), as were parents who had a child with ASN (25% vs 20%). “
- Scotland
- childcare
- Early Years Scotland
- NDNA
- Scotland
