MSPs told rates hike could see nursery fees increase

Business rates for nurseries should be abolished or frozen, MSPs have been told.

Campaigners said soaring rates would lead to increased fees for parents, and could even put some nurseries out of business.

The extra costs could also make it difficult to deliver a key Scottish Government pledge to increase free childcare to 1,140 hours per year by 2020, they said.

Stephanie Dodds, chairwoman of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) network in East and Midlothian, submitted a petition to Holyrood’s Public Petitions Committee highlighting the effect of recent business revaluations.

Nurseries in Dundee and Aberdeen are facing rate hikes of around 50%, while in Edinburgh, increases can be 70% or more, she told the committee.

One nursery in Renfrewshire is facing a 215% rise, while in Edinburgh the highest increase is 147%, Ms Dodds continued.

“A key issue for nurseries, like all small businesses, is balancing our books so we can deliver high-quality childcare, whilst remaining sustainable and keeping fees affordable for parents,” she said. “The new rates increases put many of the nurseries in Scotland above the threshold for small business rates relief.”

Claire Schofield, of the NDNA, said: “It’s a cost pressure that has to be passed on to parents, and when we are looking at expansion to 1,140 hours it is actually going to make it that much harder for nurseries to get involved in that and remain viable.”