Coronavirus puts early learning and childcare expansion deadline on hold

Councils have been working towards providing 1140 hours of funded childcare to three and four year olds from the summer, however Scottish Government Ministers have now laid an order in parliament to revoke this statutory duty.

The move means local authorities will no longer be legally obliged to deliver the additional hours and it will allow them to focus on the coronavirus pandemic response.

A joint statement from Maree Todd, Minister for Children and Young People, and Stephen McCabe, COSLA spokesman for children and young people, said: “Before the extent of the Covid-19 pandemic became clear a couple of weeks ago, Audit Scotland confirmed we were on track to deliver 1140 hours of early learning and childcare from August 2020.

“Indeed, councils had already built or refurbished hundreds of buildings and recruited thousands of additional staff, and in excess of 50,000 children were already receiving more than the current entitlement of 600 hours.

“That progress was driven by and a testament to the strong partnership working between central and local government throughout the expansion programme.”

They said their commitment to delivering the expansion “remains undimmed” and partnership working will continue with the aim of ensuring children have access to the best support and opportunities for development in their early years.

The statement continued: “However, in these exceptional circumstances it is not realistic or reasonable to expect that local authorities can deliver their original expansion plans to secure high quality experience for all children in time for August this year.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has made it impossible to continue with the planned recruitment and infrastructure projects required to support expansion.

“As we focus on saving lives and looking after people most vulnerable to the virus the immediate priority is to ensure that we have the emergency childcare in place to support families during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“To support local government with this critical response work, the Scottish Government has now moved to suspend the statutory duty on local authorities to provide 1140 hours of early learning and childcare from this August.

“Tens of thousands of children have already benefited from expanded hours, and we expect this will continue when normal provision resumes.

“Once there is a clearer picture of the impact and duration of the pandemic response measures, we will work together to agree the right time to reinstate the statutory requirement and ensure that all eligible children can access 1140 hours of high quality early learning and childcare.”