Highland Council slammed for forcing families to pay for childcare
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HIGHLAND Council is under fire for forcing parents to pay for childcare despite being given a £30 million pot to provide the services free.
The authority claimed it was following guidance from the Scottish Government which gave it the cash.
But this was rubbished by children’s minister Maree Todd, who is now demanding answers.
Earlier this month the council said it had paused the roll-out of the 1140 hours of free childcare scheme because of its financial woes, saying it would be too expensive to introduce.
It has now emerged that those families who have already claimed the allocation of 600 free hours must now pay £4.30 an hour and £2.30 for meals if they want to get childcare.
A review of the situation is taking place with a report set to go to councillors on the education committee on September 30.
Highland MSP Mrs Todd refuted claims made by the council’s finance boss Liz Denovan, who said the money would be needed elsewhere in education and that they were following government guidance.
Mrs Todd said: “The Scottish Government, jointly with Cosla (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities), has been clear that, where possible, councils should continue to bring forward their 1140 hours expansion. We have not advised councils to pause the roll-out of 1140.
“While we have offered some flexibility to use that funding to deliver critical provision for children and families, this funding is not provided to support other parts of councils’ budgets.
“Where councils have the places available to offer fully funded 1140 hours to some or all children, we expect them to do so using the funding we’ve provided this year.
“This will ensure families and communities can realise the benefits as quickly as possible, and without having to meet some of the costs. I will be asking Highland Council for more details on why they are now choosing to charge parents for this.”
Inverness councillor Andrew Jarvie said he felt betrayed by the council for taking government cash then going on to charge hard-pressed parents for childcare.
“The council is taking the money from the government for these hours and making parents pay for them at the same time,” he said.
“It’s just so wrong. I feel incredibly let down, because it’s the one thing I believed the council on at first. I am just extremely frustrated that the situation is the opposite of what we understood it to be.
“When I got emails from parents who were told they could purchase additional hours, I knew something was amiss. It was delayed because of apparent resource shortages but being able to buy more hours states there is not a shortage.”
An Inverness mother-of-two said: “We were relying on the 1140 hours so that I could go back to work full-time. Everyone knows there is a pandemic and that it has changed the situation but I don’t understand how we can be told they can offer this service that should be free by now, if we pay for it. Either they can do it or they can’t do it so the whole scenario seems a bit messy and unfair.”
Ms Denovan said £13 million of the council’s budget gap related to education without accounting for further roll out of 1140 hours this year.
“We will be happy, like anyone else, to implement the roll-out again when funds are available,” she said. “At the moment, we are following government guidance in pausing the roll out.
“If there were any proposals to start the roll-out again that would only increase the [budget] gap to the council. We have a council meeting in September where we are hoping to mitigate the gap.”
