Crisis in Scotland’s childminding sector

The clock is ticking for Scotland's childminding sector, an organisation has warned, as more than a third of carers have left the profession in just eight years.

The Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) said today that the sector is in crisis, with the 34 per cent of childminders who have quit since the expansion of funded early education and childcare in 2016 forecast to double in 2026, when a 64 per cent drop in numbers is expected.

Sc ma chief executive graeme Mcalister said more than 1,900 childminding businesses have now been lost along with 11,000 places since the extra funding began, and warned "these losses cannot be sustained".

"Two years ago, SCMA also warned that we had the makings of a workforce crisis. That crisis is now here. Shortages of childminders are being experienced all around Scotland," he said.

"We have reached a critical crossroad and time period within which to act - to allow childminding to become less and less available, and potentially disappear altogether as a form of childcare in scotland, or to act decisively and intervene before it is too late to safeguard childminding for children and families around Scotland. "The clock is ticking." Children's minister Clare Haughey said: "Childminders are a valued part of our early learning and childcare workforce.

"We want to encourage more people into childminding and we are working with the Scottish Childminding Association and other partners to address the decline in the child min ding workforce - a trend that is mirrored elsewhere in the UK.”