Exclusive:Calls to address 'crisis' in early learning and childcare as staffing numbers fall
Fears of childcare facilities becoming increasingly overstretched amid sharp rise in vacancies
A third of nurseries are reporting staff shortages after early learning and childcare staffing numbers dropped for the first time since records began.
The sharp rise in vacancies has been labelled a “crisis” that is leaving childcare facilities increasingly overstretched.
Now calls have been made for staffing levels in Scotland’s nurseries to be addressed urgently.
Martin Whitfield, Scottish Labour spokesman for Children and Young People, said early years settings are being “pushed to breaking point”.
“Vacancies are widespread and the pressure on already overstretched staff is intense - all of which means children are being short-changed,” Mr Whitfield said.
“This staffing crisis didn’t happen by accident.
“The SNP ignored repeated warnings and failed to act, leaving early years services in crisis.”
Between 2023 and 2024, early learning and childcare staffing dropped for the first time since records began.
The most recent data suggests that a third of childcare services have at least one vacancy.
Vacancy rates in Scottish childcare services have risen sharply in recent years, increasing from 23 per cent in 2019 to 32 per cent in 2023.
Despite these trends, the number of childcare and early years apprentices in the sector has dropped by nearly 100 compared to 2020.
Before parliament recess, Mr Whitfield, a South Scotland MSP, asked the Scottish Government how many early learning and childcare workforce vacancies are currently unfilled.
In response, children and young people minister Natalie Don-Innes highlighted annual Scottish Social Services Council.
The latest report, published earlier this year, showed that as of December 31, 2023, some 32 per cent of children’s day care services reported a vacancy.
Scottish Labour highlighted the importance of early years and accused the SNP of being “asleep at the wheel” on the issue.
Mr Whitfield added: “The care children receive in their earliest years can shape their whole lives, yet under the SNP these vital services have been badly mismanaged and pushed to breaking point.”
In August 2021, the Scottish Government increased the entitlement of free early learning and childcare hours from 600 to 1140 hours per year.
The most recent figures returned by local authorities show that around 95,000 children were accessing early learning.
Of those, nearly 98 per cent were using more than 600 funded hours while 88 per cent were using the full entitlement of 1140 hours.
Private nurseries have reported increasing financial pressures involved in delivering the funded hours.
Private facilities work in partnership with local authorities, which distribute funding from the Scottish Government but some nurseries say the funds are not enough to mitigate costs.
Figures also show a drop of 49 private nurseries in one year, some 34 council nurseries have closed and 158 child minders have stopped operating.
Of 971 childminders in partnership with councils, numbers show 208 were categorised as “inactive”, meaning they had no children registered to receive funded hours.
This was also the case for eight local authority nurseries and one partner nursery.
Over the same period, the total early learning and childcare workforce saw a drop of around 278 staff members - or a 1.5 per cent decrease.
Sharon Fairley, owner of four Little Flyers nurseries and previously head of the Scottish Early Years Alliance, spoke to The Scotsman earlier this year to raise concerns about nursery provision in Edinburgh.
She had said the situation was a “constant challenge” because of a lack of a “level playing field” between private and council settings.
Ms Fairley said: “It's a pretty broken sector at the moment, due to many challenges, not least the current financial challenges.”
Nursery staff also report difficult behaviour from young children with physical and verbal assaults taking place in nursery settings as well as schools and colleges.
Figures released under freedom of information laws show there were 75,411 physical or verbal assaults on public sector workers last year.
Unison Scotland, which obtained the statistics, found around half of these - 37,000 - happened in schools and colleges as well as nurseries.
Mr Whitfield said: “A Scottish Labour government would take responsibility - properly supporting staff, ensuring families can rely on childcare, and giving every child the best possible start in life.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Scotland remains the only part of the UK offering 1,140 hours of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) to all three- and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds, regardless of parents' working status.
“If families paid for their full 1,140 entitlement themselves, it would cost them around £6,000 per eligible child per year. Care Inspectorate data shows that the quality of service remains consistently high, while 91 per cent of households are satisfied in funded ELC.
“Figures published by the Scottish Social Services Council show that the ELC workforce reached a record high of 42,250 in 2024, which is growth of 26.3 per cent since 2015, supporting the Scottish Government’s transformational expansion of funded ELC.”
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