Extra childcare hours scheme is rolled out
Service being offered to families
Stirling Council has started a phased rollout of early learning and childcare expansion across nurseries.
Backed by £7million of capital investment support and £11.8million of revenue support, the council has started phase one of the delivery of the Scottish Government’s early learning and childcare expansion programme.
Officials reported to the council’s children and young people’s committee earlier this year that there was still a £900,000 shortfall in the funding needed to fully implement the programme.
Under the policy, the national entitlement to free early learning and childcare, for all three and four-year-olds and eligible twoyear-olds, will almost double from 600 to 1140 hours per year.
Phase one of the expansion started in August and will be followed by phase two in August next year and phase three in August, 2020.
Private partner nurseries and childminders will be included in each phase of the roll-out.
The work will see a number of local authority nurseries along with partner providers in the private sector offer parents almost double the number of free childcare hours.
From August, five council-run nurseries, two private nurseries and 13 childminders in the Bannockburn and McLaren areas of Stirling started offering the service to families.
Children and young people convenor Susan McGill said: “We are working with partners to put together a package of support which includes funded training opportunities for their staff, a significant increase in the hourly rate we pay them to deliver the service, and a dedicated quality improvement officer to support them with the expansion.
“Many of our partners are childminders and small businesses who rely on fast payments to support their cash flow. To help with this, we have put in place a system of speedy and advanced payments in place of payments in arrears.
“In addition, we are considering proposals to provide grants to develop projects within their nurseries. This could be funding for additional resources or improvements to outdoor spaces.”
Tory committee member Councillor Alistair Berrill said: “I am concerned there are many areas across the Stirling that won’t have access to them for some time and I would urge the coverage to be widened to all areas as quickly as possible.’’
Red Kite Community Nursery in Doune is one of the private partner nurseries in phase one.
Red Kite’s manager Tracey Stewart said: “The increase in funding means we can open full days instead of just mornings and this has been great for our families.”