Scottish parents step up campaign for more flexible funded places

In the letter, parent campaign group Fair Funding for Our Kids (FFFOK) asks the first minister Nicola Sturgeon to provide Glasgow City Council with an additional £2m, the amount required to guarantee a funded place for all three- and four-year-olds in private partnership nurseries.

Last year, FFFOK estimated that more than 1,000 children in Glasgow were unable to take up their 600 hours of free childcare as the majority of places are available at council-run settings.

Most of the council’s nurseries are open term-time only and require parents to take the free hours in blocks of three hours 10 minutes in the morning or afternoon, rather than as full days.

The move follows Glasgow City Council’s decision to cap the number of funded places at partnership nurseries - private and voluntary settings contracted by the council.

The parent campaign group has also written to Glasgow City Council’s leader Councillor Gordon Matheson, asking him to consider allocating an additional £2m from its budget to pay for 1,000 more partnership nursery places.

However, Glasgow City council has said it does not have any available money.

A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said, ‘While we are sympathetic to parents’ needs, it is unrealistic to expect the council to find this money – we use our available budget to meet our duty with regard to part-time places, but we recognise that working parents need more full-time places. The funding we receive from Scottish Government does not take account of this.’

A Scottish Government spokesperson said, ‘In 2015-16, Glasgow City Council will receive its fair share of funding from the Scottish Government which will amount to over £1,417 million.’

Alison McIntyre of FFOK said, ‘If the first minister really means to keep her promise to our children she must make sure she funds it properly. And if Glasgow really wants to help hard-pressed working parents they need to prioritise more flexible nursery options when they set their budget next week.

‘Right now it feels like politicians are passing the parcel about who is responsible for delivering this policy. Meanwhile thousands of children are losing out. It’s depressing and what our kids need is someone to stop playing games and actually sort it.’

According to FFFOK, it is not only families in Glasgow that are being affected, but across Scotland. As a result, the group has joined forces with parents in East Lothian, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian.

Tony McDaid, head of education at South Lanarkshire Council, said, ‘Parents and carers were invited in 2013 to give their views on a range of options with regards to the extended hours, with overall preference being for five x three hours 10 minute sessions over 38 weeks per year (school term). 

‘The extent of this provision is available in our 58 nursery classes. Across the 15 standalone nurseries, children can attend for extended hours (8am-6pm) and for 52 weeks per year. 

‘The delivery of flexible places to meet the needs of children and their families is and remains a core part of our roll-out strategy with 40 per cent of all places allocated for full days with the remaining 60 per cent allocated to morning or afternoon sessions.’

A Scottish Government spokesperson added, ‘It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to manage their own budgets and to allocate the total financial resources available to them on the basis of local needs and priorities, having first fulfilled their statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities.

'We recognise the wider needs of parents in relation to early learning and childcare. That’s why the Children and Young People Act set out to significantly expand hours and increase flexibility, year on year. Local authorities are now required to consult with groups of parents at least once every two years on patterns of childcare provision which would best meet their needs.

‘The Scottish Government is fully funding the additional costs of providing the statutory minimum of 600 hours; based on figures agreed with COSLA. This funding increases annually to enable local authorities to increase flexibility and choices for parents.’

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), said, ‘There is an issue with parental choice when choosing a nursery to access funded places in Scotland, which is accentuated by a lot of local authorities capping places for partner providers or reducing the number of partner provider nurseries when commissioning providers.

‘Parental choice is limited as local authorities decide which nurseries they will be working with to deliver funded hours. This can mean parents having difficulty accessing childcare locally and they may have to move their children from a nursery as it does not deliver funded places. This can be disruptive to a child’s continuity of care.’  

CASE STUDY

Joanne Aitken, a parent from Glasgow has been unable to take up her three-year-old son’s free childcare hours because of a lack of flexible funded places in her area.

She said, ‘My son Tom has been at a private nursery since he was nine months old. We put him in a private partnership nursery as thought he would be able to take up his free place there when he turned three.

‘However, last summer we found out he wouldn’t be able to take-up his free hours at the setting as Glasgow City Council capped the nursery’s funded places.

Ms Aitken says that they are unable to take up a free place elsewhere as they can’t afford the fees at the only other private partnership nursery in the area.

The two council-run nurseries are both oversubscribed and only allow the hours to be taken in blocks of three hours 10 minutes, which Ms Aitken says would be impossible to take up as she works full-time and there are no childminders in the area to provide additional care.

Ms Aitken’s son continues to attend the same nursery despite not being able to receive the free hours. Her son is one of ten children at the nursery in the same situation.

Ms Aitken hopes her son will get his free place at the nursery in the autumn term.