Starting in August 2023, all children whose parents choose to take up their legal right to defer them, will have automatic access to a further year of funded nursery education.
Under current rules, any child aged four at the time of the start of the school year can defer entry for a year, but only those born in January or February are entitled to free childcare, with local authorities deciding if others qualify.
From August 2023, that decision will be taken out of the hands of councils.
Making the announcement, children’s minister Maree Todd said, ‘This will ensure that all children who defer will have an equal right to continue with funded ELC [early learning and childcare] if their parent or carer feels it is in their best interests.’
She added, ‘The Covid-19 pandemic meant that we had to delay moving to the new statutory entitlement of 1,140 hours of funded ELC for all eligible children, and I will soon be able to confirm when delivery of this transformational policy will happen. Introducing expanded eligibility for deferral from August 2023 is a realistic timetable that will ensure we are ready to deliver.’
Campaigners have warmly welcomed the move, but they are disappointed that a full national rollout will not be effective immediately.
The Give Them Time Campaign has been lobbying the Scottish Government to provide an automatic entitlement to a further year of nursery funding for all children legally deferring their school start, since 2018.
Campaign spokesperson, Diane Delaney, said that the organisation was ‘elated’ that the legislation will be brought in to fund all deferrals.
However, in the meantime, she said that ‘immediate and full implementation in every local authority’ was needed.
She said, ‘Our research has evidenced that the postcode lottery of allocation of discretionary deferral funding is causing confusion, stress, distress and ultimately forcing some parents to send their child to school despite feeling concerned about their wellbeing and ability to cope.
‘There will be dire consequences for children and families having to wait until 2023 to guarantee full access to funding. Parents' worries are exacerbated as a result of the multiple impacts of Covid-19 and the huge loss of nursery time for these children earlier this year.
‘We welcome the offer of the Scottish Government to continue to work with parents as they move forward in progressing the implementation of this legislation. The Scottish Government has committed to embed children’s rights into Scottish Law, therefore in advance of this we require the new legislation to be implemented fairly and as soon as possible to help all parents, but especially those parents who cannot afford to defer their child if their council refuses funding.
She added, ‘We want to live in a country where we can be proud that the needs of our children come first and to do this, any legislation impacting on children must not be determined by where they live or their parents income.’
Scottish Government encourages all families considering deferral to contact their local authority and visit the Parent Club website to find out more.