Scottish Government's nursery entitlement expansion may drive up cost of care for under 3s

There is concern parents of children under the age of three will be forced to pay higher nursery fees.

It comes after the Scottish Government announced from August, all three and four-year-olds, and around a quarter of two-year-olds, will benefit from 1,140 hours of childcare a year.

Scottish nurseries say the increase in demand will drive up costs and they may have to charge more.

Siobhan Gillies is the manager of Gowanlea nursery in Drumchapel. She says:

''Our daily rate I expect will have to increase to meet the increased costs we're going to see over the next few years''.

Childminders are also concerned they will lose out on business as parents are confused about what options are open to them.

Gillian Christiansen is a childminder from Clarkston says ''the parents that come and speak to us don't have a great deal of time to go and find information or explore the options that are out there''.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said:

''Our unprecedented £2 billion investment into increasing early learning and childcare over a five year period means, from August, all three and four year olds and around 25% of two year olds will benefit from 1,140 hours of early learning and childcare a year.

We understand that information sharing is vitally important in a change programme of this size and that is why we have today launched a nationwide public information campaign encouraging families to enrol their children for funded early learning and childcare ahead of this major expansion. We have timed our campaign to coincide with the period when most local authorities are accepting applications for August 2020 places. We want parents and carers to act now so that they don’t miss out.

This investment will also enable all childcare workers, including those in private nurseries delivering funded hours, to be paid at least the Scottish Living Wage from August 2020.''

You can find out more by going to this page https://www.parentclub.scot/articles/you-can-now-get-30-hours-childcare-week-thats-free-you

Hear all the latest news from across the North of Scotland on MFR. Listen on FM, via our Rayo app, DAB, or smart speaker.