In 2014, the Scottish Government announced that it wanted to almost double the number of funded hours of early learning and childcare (ELC) to 1,140 hours a year by the end of the next parliament.
Funded ELC is commonly understood as the number of 'free' hours of childcare a child is entitled to. Currently, all three and four year olds are entitled to 600 hours a year of funded ELC, usually taken as 16 hours a week, over 38 weeks. A child becomes eligible for funded ELC from the first term after their third birthday. However, local authorities can use their discretion to provide funded ELC earlier than that first term.
Looked after two-year olds, including those subject to a kinship care order or with an appointed guardian are also eligible for funded ELC, as are those two-year olds whose parents are in receipt of certain benefits.
Principles and aims
The priority for the expansion to 1,140 hours is to improve children's outcomes and close the poverty-related attainment gap. In addition, the expansion aims to support parents into work, study or training. The Scottish Government's four principles of the ELC expansion are: quality, flexibility, affordability, and accessibility.
The Scottish Government has stated that quality is 'at the heart' of the expansion and that achieving a high-quality ELC experience for children is a key objective.
The theory of change for the expansion is that, by delivering ELC that is high-quality, flexible, affordable and accessible, parents will be encouraged to take up their child's entitlement to funded ELC, especially those from the least advantaged backgrounds. In turn, children's development will improve, the poverty-related attainment gap will narrow and more parents will be able to work, study or train.
Use and provision
Currently, parents use 29 hours a week of ELC, on average. The majority of parents (over 70%) use the funded ELC entitlement together with a mix of paid or informal ELC. A 2018 survey found that the main reason why parents use funded ELC is that they consider it beneficial for their child's learning and development. In addition, parents reported using the funded hours to either work, increase the number of hours they work, or look for work.
Funded ELC in Scotland is delivered by a wide range of providers including nurseries, crèches and playgroups, from across the public, private and third sectors. A small number of childminders also deliver funded ELC, but the Scottish Government hopes this number will increase under the expansion to 1,140 hours.
There is variation in funded ELC provision, for example, some nurseries only provide funded places for children aged three or four. In addition, how providers operate differs, in particular between the public and private sector. For instance, only 31% of public nurseries operate after school hours, compared to 90% of private nurseries.
Workforce
Around 25,500 people are currently employed in delivering funded ELC in Scotland, across the public, private and third sectors. The ELC workforce is comprised of support workers, practitioners and managers/lead practitioners, all of whom are required to hold (or be working towards) the relevant qualification for their position. Additionally, all ELC staff must be registered with the Scottish Social Services Council.
Pay and conditions for those working in the ELC sector are generally considered to be better in the public sector, compared to the private sector. For example, the salary for a practitioner in the public sector can be over £10,000 more per year more than that offered in the private sector. Moreover, it is estimated that around 80% of practitioners in the private sector are paid less than the Living Wage.
The Scottish Government estimates that the expansion of funded ELC to 1,140 hours will require the recruitment of around 11,000 additional staff. Skills Development Scotland aim to increase the number of Modern Apprenticships in ELC by 10% each year up to 2020 and the Scottish Government aims to create over 1,800 additional HNC college and university places in 2018/19. In addition, the government has launched a recruitment campaign aimed at two key groups: school leavers and parental returners/career changers.
Funding
The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities for the delivery and implementation of funded ELC. In turn, local authorities can commission partner providers from the private or third sector to deliver funded hours of ELC. This commissioning process and what hourly rate the partner provider is paid for delivering funded ELC is determined by each individual authority. Concerns have been raised that, at present, the rates paid by local authorities do not meet the operating costs of partner providers, leaving them with a shortfall.
A new funding settlement for the expansion of ELC was agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA in April 2018. The agreement will provide local authorities with £567 million of recurring revenue funding per year by 2012/22. In addition, £476 million of capital funding has been allocated to authorities over the period 2017/18 to 2020/21. This capital funding is provided for the refurbishment/extension extension of current ELC facilities or building of new facilities to deliver the expansion to 1,140 hours.
The Scottish Government has stated that this multi-year funding plan will enable local authorities to pay partner providers a sustainable hourly rate.
Funding Follows the Child and the National Standard
From August 2020, a new Funding Follows the Child (FFtC) model will accompany the delivery of 1,140 hours of funded ELC. The Scottish Government states the FFtC model will enable a 'provider neutral' approach to ELC under which parents and carers will be able to access their child's funded ELC hours from any provider which:
meets the criteria in the National Standard
has a space available and
is willing to enter into a contract with the local authority.
The National Standard aims to ensure consistency across all funded ELC services so that parents and carers are assured that their provider of choice offers high-quality ELC. The National Standard includes a wide-range of criteria related to food, the physical environment, and fair work practices including the payment of the Living Wage to staff delivering funded hours of ELC. All funded providers, regardless of type or sector, will be required to meet with the National Standard. Compliance with the National Standard will be assessed by the local authority.
Sustainability and support
The Scottish Government published a Delivery Support Plan for providers of funded ELC in December 2018. It outlined four areas in which the government and local authorities will support partner providers covering financial sustainability, partnership working, workforce recruitment and communication with parents and carers.
The need for partner providers to receive a sustainable hourly rate has been emphasised as key to their participation in the expansion to 1,140 hours. Several local authorities have stated that their hourly rate will increase under the expansion and guidance for setting a sustainable rate is being developed by Scotland Excel.
Concerns have been raised about staff retention by partner providers as local authorities seek to expand their workforce.
Progress and evaluation
The Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress was published in December 2018 and provided the first update on local authority ELC expansion progress. The report showed that local authorities had not met their forecasts for workforce growth but had exceed thier capacity estimates.
The expansion of ELC and impact on both child and parental outcomes will be evaluated by the Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare. Baseline data is currently being collected to enable future comparisons of outcomes between those children who received 600 hours of funded ELC and those who received 1,140 hours.