Warning of staff shortage threat to free childcare

FAMILIES could be ‘left in the lurch’ because nurseries are not ready for the SNP Government’s expansion of free childcare, it has been claimed.

Figures show that nurseries are currently 5,135 childcare places and 416 staff behind schedule.

It is estimated that local authority nurses will need to provide places for 24,970 children, but actual capacity is only 19,835.

An extra 2,173 full-time staff have been recruited – but this is also short of the target of 2,859. The Liberal democrats say that the report showing the figures was ‘buried’ and only became public in response to a parliamentary question.

Scottish Liberal democrat leader Willie Rennie said: ‘It is easy to see why the Scottish Government would be keen to bury this dire report without so much as a press release.

‘While the childcare minister, Maree Todd, has been brazenly telling everyone that the expansion is on track, these figures show in black and white that simply isn’t the case. This report indicates that the Scottish Government is set to leave families in the lurch unless it seriously steps up its efforts.’

The doubling of the statutory entitlement to funded early learning and childcare – from 600 hours to 1,140 hours – is due in August 2020.

It will cover all three and four-yearolds and around a quarter of two-year-olds.

Only ‘approximately 10 per cent’ of the additional infrastructure capacity required for the expansion is complete, with 44 more projects ‘in construction’ and 738 projects ‘in development’.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We remain confident that all local authorities and their partners will be ready to deliver when the 1,140 hours’ entitlement comes into force next August.

‘Thousands of children are already receiving this new entitlement a year early and we know that more staff have been recruited since April.

‘Local authority plans are continuing to evolve in response to specific local needs.’

‘Set to leave families in lurch’