Childcare service is a real KLAS act

Funding boost to expand Linwood project

A childcare service that aims to help people living in poverty is in line for a cash boost that will support services.

Linwood-based KLAS Care is one of the latest successful participants in LaunchMe, which is Scotland’s only social enterprise accelerator programme.

And KLAS Care now aims expand its premises in order to provide an even better service.

Boss Lesley Compston said: “Working hours are changing and so the needs of parents are changing.

“Childcare is about more than just after school hours.

“Getting onto LaunchMe will allow us to develop a disused building into a community facility, provide additional childcare places and access for the local community to a range of services and opportunities.”

A registered childminder with a degree in Childhood Practice, Lesley set up KLAS Care with the aim of reducing the amount of families living in poverty in the Renfrewshire area through the provision of affordable and flexible childcare, to enable parents to access education, training or employment.

And the business also aims to reinvest profits in subsidising fees for low-income families.

Initially launched in 2010, KLAS Care became a social enterprise in 2014.

With a lack of community space in the area, KLAS Care now wants to provide premises to provide childcare throughout the day as well as offer community groups, services and local people spaces to meet.

It has now leased a disused janitor’s building in the grounds of the current Linwood location of East Fulton Primary School.

LaunchMe is run by social enterprise development agency Firstport and funded by the Big Lottery Fund Scotland, with additional support from the Scottish Government.

It aims to supports the most ambitious, early-stage by getting them “investment ready” and connecting them with investors looking for social as well as financial returns.

In addition to initial seed funding of up to £25,000, participants can also apply for funding of up to £100,000 to match any investment they secure during the three-year programme.

Karen McGregor, chief executive of Firstport, said: “We are excited to reveal our latest amazing group of social entrepreneurs with the vision and ambition to change Scotland for the better.

“Over the last two years, we have shown that social enterprises have the potential to achieve scale and bring about more social and economic benefits to communities across Scotland.

“In addition, the programme’s unique way of using grant funding to leverage investment has successfully attracted a number of social investors, pioneering new ways of financing a social return.

“We have introduced the entrepreneurs to new investors who were previously unaware of social enterprise and helped them develop long-term relationships beyond the programme’s lifetime.”