Early learning and childcare funding dispute turns bitter ahead of tomorrow's crunch meeting as Highland Council is accused of silencing critics and losing the trust of the nursery sector
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A row over funding for 1140 hours of early learning and childcare (ELC) has turned acrimonious amid claims objecting voices have been silenced and a lack of trust between providers and Highland Council.
The issue over payment blew up last month when a majority of councillors voted to freeze the current rates sparking a furious backlash from nurseries in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector.
Not only did they say they could not make the National Minimum Wage but some feared they may have to close or leave the 1140 hours programme altogether – ramping-up costs for hard pressed parents.
Related Content:
- 'U-turn' by Highland Council on providers' fees for 1140 hours of free early learning and childcare welcomed but concerns remain over 'significantly' lower rates
- Early learning and childcare at risk as Highland Council moves to freeze funding despite concerns from providers that they are already under-funded by 24 per cent
A successful move by Councillor Helen Crawford to force a special meeting on the issue saw the council quickly U-turn, retable the issue on the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting with a temporary rise in payments.
Members will decide whether to backdate new rates to August or start them this month. Providers will get an extra 53p for two year olds (£6.66 per hour, per child) and an extra 32p for three to five-year-olds (£5.75).
But those in the PVI sector say that will not come close to dealing with the issues they face and who claim that the problem is the council pays itself more for ELC than the PVI sector.
Meanwhile a group of more than a dozen nurseries from across the region have banded together to put forward their own proposals in a letter to councillors – they include a permanent rise in the rates they get.
Kenny Forsyth from Stramash nursery at Tornagrain claims that at a consultation meeting he was silenced when he tried to speak out and there is still no solution to outstanding issues.
“As a collective group of partners now feel that we have lost faith in the council,” he said. “It is not a proposed rate increase – it is a one-off payment for only part of the year – which means that the interim rate of £5.43 in Highland is still the interim rate of £5.43.
“This is in the context of the directly comparable, rural authorities that are significantly higher. Argyll & Bute £6.35, Aberdeenshire £6.40 and Moray £6.30. Highland is lagging far behind at £5.43 and a temporary stop gap makes little difference to that.”
He added: “Two weeks ago the CEO of Highland Council said in a briefing to Early Years partners that the allegation of £10 million diverted elsewhere was an ‘extremely serious matter.’ Now, according to this Council report it is only a ‘misunderstanding'.
“When I asked the CEO during the briefing about the nature of ELC funding from the Scottish Government I was required to be silent or leave the briefing. I left the briefing.
“What followed was the CEO’s statement to an all-councillor briefing that I was to receive a lawyer's letter. No such letter appeared. This I assume is because the diverted £10 million is now visible and the situation remains extremely serious.”
Responding to those claims a Highland Council spokesman said: “The council notes the comments from Mr Forsyth. Mr Forsyth represents an individual provider, Stramash. The council has actively sought to engage with representatives of all providers, including Mr Forsyth.
“The allegation made by Mr Forsyth that £10 million was diverted elsewhere is an extremely serious matter as it is inaccurate, misleading and reflects a lack of understanding of the position.
“Mr Forsyth was asked to leave the engagement with providers as he was unable to offer a reassurance that he would not continue to interrupt the contributions from council officers and providers.”
Meanwhile a group of more than a dozen nurseries from across the region have banded together to put forward their own proposals in a letter to councillors – they include a permanent rise in the rates they get.
What they said in full:
Kenny Forsyth, Stramash Outdoor Nurseries
“As a collective group of partners now feel that we have lost faith in the council. It is not a proposed rate increase – it is a one-off payment for only part of the year – which means that the interim rate of £5.43 in Highland is still the interim rate of £5.43.
“This is in the context of the directly comparable, rural authorities that are significantly higher. Argyll & Bute £6.35, Aberdeenshire £6.40 and Moray £6.30. Highland is lagging far behind at £5.43 and a temporary stop gap makes little difference to that.
“The council has at last published the recent history of Early Years Funding and the £10 million that has been diverted away from Early Years is now visible. The council explains this by saying it was a ‘misunderstanding’ and the 1140 hours funding the council requested from the Scottish Government was only an ‘estimate’.
“The council appears to wish us to believe that this resolves the outstanding questions. It does not.
“Two weeks ago the CEO of Highland Council said in a briefing to Early Years partners that the allegation of £10 million diverted elsewhere was an ‘extremely serious matter.’ Now, according to this Council report it is only a ‘misunderstanding'.
“When I asked the CEO during the briefing about the nature of ELC funding from the Scottish Government I was required to be silent or leave the briefing. I left the briefing.
“What followed was the CEO’s statement to an all-councillor briefing that I was to receive a lawyer's letter. No such letter appeared. This I assume is because the diverted £10 million is now visible and the situation remains extremely serious.
“It is now clear that the funds needed for the Early Years education of over 1500 children in partner settings was diverted by the Council elsewhere and it happened over recent years, long before the cost-of-living crisis hit.”
“The Scottish Government was very clear in a recent letter to me that ‘It is expected that local authorities work with providers… within the funding envelope available for 1140 expansion.’
“The ‘funding envelope available’ referred to is the full funding available not the reduced funding following the diversion of such significant sums. Previous Scottish Government correspondence has confirmed the full funding to be around £10m higher than the council now claims.
“My conclusion as it stands is that there seems to be no consequence for the Council in openly, now publicly, opposing Scot Gov's position regarding ELC 1140 funding and, in doing so, jeopardising the Early Years education of so many children.
“My other conclusion is that for such a matter to be extremely serious only two weeks ago is now only a misunderstanding – that is not credible.”
Highland Council spokesman
“The council has undertaken ongoing and constructive engagement with the ELC PVI sector representatives.
“The purpose of the engagement has been to allow both the Council and the sector to better understand their respective views, share information and learn together ultimately with the objective of developing and co-producing actions and solutions for the future.
“The council meeting this Thursday will consider a report ‘Financial Crisis – Valuing Partners Through Collective Budget Strategies, Redesign and Co-production’ that has been drawn up following engagement with Early Years providers and seeks agreement to payment of an additional funding amount for providers.
“The report includes two tables at 4.6 which set out clearly both the council’s current budget for ELC and previous years’ including the Scottish Government ring fenced grants.
“The council notes the comments from Mr Forsyth. Mr Forsyth represents an individual provider, Stramash. The council has actively sought to engage with representatives of all providers, including Mr Forsyth.
“The allegation made by Mr Forsyth that £10 million was diverted elsewhere is an extremely serious matter as it is inaccurate, misleading and reflects a lack of understanding of the position.
“Mr Forsyth was asked to leave the engagement with providers as he was unable to offer a reassurance that he would not continue to interrupt the contributions from council officers and providers.”
Nurseries spokeswoman
“We, a group of private providers in Highland, have reviewed the report for the meeting and whilst the proposed temporary funding is welcome and provides some relief, the remainder of the report generates some issues.
“As a result we are writing to all councillors asking for their support in counter proposals which we believe are reasonable and applied in the interests of both parties (providers and Highland Council), endorse the Scottish Government’s flagship ELC policy and more importantly benefit the children and families we work with and thus our wider communities.
“Our proposals include that the one-off payment should cover the period August 2022 to July 2023 as opposed to Aug or Oct to Mar 2023 – it is worth noting no other local authority is proposing a one off non-recurring uplift and all those who have set their new rates, have set recurring rates.”
