Scotland: Sector criticises omission of data on PVI workforce in childcare expansion report

In a progress report on the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) expansion programme, published by the Improvement Service, the data shows that seven out of ten children attending ELC in Scotland are receiving the full 1,140 hours of funded childcare, an increase of seven percentage points  - 65 per cent to 72 per cent -  or 10,510 children, since February.

However, around 8,000 two-year-olds that are eligible for the offer are not taking it up, a rate described as 'terrible' by the Scottish Liberal Democrats.

Funded providers in the private and voluntary sectors and childminders provide 31 per cent of all funded provision, the report states.

But the report has been criticised for failing  to include data on the private and voluntary sector ELC workforce, despite including analysis of the local authority workforce.

Jonathan Broadbery, the National Day Nurseries Association’s director of policy and communication, said, ‘This report makes it clear that private and voluntary run partner nurseries have been essential to delivering funded early learning and childcare places.

He added, ‘The ELC sector in Scotland was facing a workforce crisis before Covid hit. We are very concerned that these reports only track the local authority workforce when our surveys have shown that this is the main source of turnover in the private and voluntary sector, with qualified staff leaving to join the public sector.’

NDNA Scotland’s first early years workforce survey, carried out in 2019, found that private and third sector providers were struggling to replace qualified staff who were leaving for higher-paid jobs in the public sector.

Take-up rate

Children’s minister Clare Haughey, who was appointed to the role last month, told Nursery World, 'More than seven out of ten children in Early Learning and Childcare are now receiving the full 1,140 funded hours, this is an increase from 65 per cent to 72 per cent since February, and 87 per cent were accessing more than the statutory entitlement of 600 hours. 

'These figures show that we are well on the way to offering all eligible children full funded hours from August 2021. The Scottish Government are working across services in Scotland to ensure all families know the benefits of the offer and feel able to access it if they wish.'

The report also notes:

• ‘variability at a local level’ in terms of staffing
• Just 69 per cent of all capital projects are now complete, delivering 60 percent of the total planned additional space.
• only 595 of the 918 capital projects are forecast to be required to deliver 1140 from August. The remainder are being developed to increase flexibility. Of the 595 projects required for August, it is forecast that 90 per cent will be complete by August 2021.

But the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said that ‘more than 8,000 two-year-olds’ were missing out on their childcare entitlement, as figures revealed that as of April 2021, just 6,204 children of the estimated 14,500 two-year-olds eligible for free early learning and childcare, were using the entitlement.

He said, ‘The terrible take up rate for two year-olds shows that the SNP have failed to deliver flexible childcare for this age group.

‘If the offer is going to be meaningful, families need to actually be able to make use of it. There’s a big difference between having the technical capacity for 1,140 hours and the actual capacity at the times and places that parents need.’