By Maggie Simpson, Chief executive, Scottish Childminding Association

EARLY learning and childcare in Scotland is changing. By 2020 families will be entitled to 1,140 hours of funded childcare, equivalent to around 30 hours per week, delivered during school term time. The Scottish Government has emphasised that the expansion will be built around quality, flexibility, accessibility and affordability to meet the needs of children and families across Scotland.

It wants to prioritise settings that are best placed to deliver quality outcomes for children and support ambitions to close the attainment gap, regardless of which sector is providing the learning and childcare.

The thinking behind this is that by 2020 funding will follow the child, with a rigorous approach to the quality of learning and care. This will give parents more choice of their provider so long as that service meets national quality standards.

This all sounds great in theory and, along with many others, the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) has been working with the Scottish Government to put the policy into practice. At the moment though there is a fly in the ointment. Currently local authorities hold the purse strings regarding the commissioning of services and this is not going well for childminders.

We are supportive of the expansion plans, especially given the potential benefits for young children and families, but that benefit depends on the child attending the setting that is right for them.

Funded early learning and childcare is now extended to some two-year-olds and, unless we are careful, these very young children are going to be restricted to ever larger group settings instead of allowed to develop at their own pace in a setting more appropriate for their needs.

Currently we have nearly 6,000 childminders in Scotland delivering services to more than 32,000 children. This includes places for babies, a large number of out of school care services, and specialist community childminding services.

However of these 6,000 childminders, only about 100 are currently commissioned by the local authority to deliver funded childcare because at the moment local authorities don’t need to use them. As a result, childminding is now potentially facing a crisis, even though childminders are adept at providing quality childcare within family settings.

Since the existing 600 hours of funded childcare has been on offer, local authorities have steered parents towards using nursery provision, with childminders only commissioned if no nursery place is available. This is a real worry because it means parents are being forced to move their young children in order to access funded early learning and childcare.

We believe different types of childcare services can really complement one another and should not be seen to be in competition. Indeed, over the years, we have worked with regulators to ensure that systems do not try to get childminding services to become more like a nursery. The uniqueness of the service is that it is part of the community and children can easily access outdoor play or enjoy trips in the surrounding area.

The current expansion should embrace the whole range of early learning and childcare services including nursery, playgroup, childminding, and out of school care so that we work together to ensure the best start in life for children.

We are working hard to change the opinion of local authorities that childminding is little more than complementary to all the other more recognised childcare services.

Tens of thousands of parents are happily using a childminding service and we are urging local authorities to allow those parents to continue this use as part of their funded hours.

This is also a prudent measure because an estimated 14,000 additional staff will be required to hit the ambitious expansion plans of the Scottish Government by 2020.