COMMENT

childcare, alongside council-run facilities.

Fewer than a third (30 per cent) of private providers say they are likely to offer 1,140 hours of funded places, down from 51 per cent last year, the report finds.

Funding shortfalls have expanded dramatically, with more nursery businesses expecting to make a loss and many owners fearing they will be forced to close before the ambitious scheme begins in 2020.

Almost four-fifths (79 per cent) of nurseries say funding for three and four-yearolds does not cover their costs, with the shortfall increased to £1.98 per hour or £1,188 per year. This is the difference between the costs of providing the place and the cash they get to fund it.

The survey took views from more than 200 childcare providers across Scotland – a third of the sector.

The commitment to the “real living wage” – over above the legal minimum has also been branded “too much” for nurseries

Ministers have already admitted a further 8,000 nursery staff are needed across Scotland to deliver the policy. Ms Tanuku added: “We need action now with an urgent injection of cash to improve current funding rates, otherwise many nurseries will not even be open by 2020.”

Among the nurseries across Scotland going public with their concerns are Bonnington House Nursery in Edinburgh, Little Me Nursery in Glasgow, Les Enfants Nurseries in Inverness and Red Squirrel Nursery in Dundee. A spokeswoman for the campaign group Fair Funding for our Kids said: “Parents struggle to access the 600 hours of free childcare they are already entitled to because so many councils will only offer a half-day nursery place – impossible for many working parents to use.

“We need a guarantee that the shift to 1,140 hours will end these halfday places, and if that’s not possible then the increase should be put on hold until

“This is what happens when childcare policy is written to fit on an election leaflet, rather than to fit around the lives of Scottish families”

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