Give Them Time campaigners welcome start of Holyrood process

The Give Them Time Campaign has welcomed yesterday’s start of a parliamentary process which will automatically provide an additional year of nursery funding for all children legally deferring their Primary One start. 

At present only January and February born children are entitled to this whereas mid-August* (*those who turn five after the school commencement date in any year) to 31st Dec born children – who share the same legal right to defer – do not have this automatic entitlement and it’s at the discretion of their local authority to grant it or not.

Since 2018 the 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. 

Our supporters are mainly parents, early years’ and primary teachers and its research has demonstrated wide variations across council areas as to whether parents were likely to secure this funding for their child or not and the process for being considered for it. While more councils than ever have funded 100% of requests this year, the infographics below highlight the ongoing postcode lottery.

However, this is now set to change as today the Minister for Children and Young People, Maree Todd, started the parliamentary process at Holyrood to change the law to enable all children whose parents choose to take up their legal right to defer them to have automatic access to a further year of funded nursery from 2023.

Campaigners have warmly welcomed this move but they are disappointed a full national rollout will not be effective immediately. Details of a pilot scheme have not been finalised yet but campaigners are keen to see this run in as many council areas as possible and particularly in areas which have had poorer approval rates in recent years as can be seen on the Evidence page of the campaign website.

Campaign spokesperson Diane Delaney 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.

“We are elated that the legislation will be brought in to fund all deferrals, however, we need immediate and full implementation in every local authority at the same time.

“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.

“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.”

Parents described some of their experiences in a survey conducted by the campaign in Oct 2020. Here are some of their comments:

QUESTION 4: What is your experience of the nursery staff’s understanding of the legal right to defer any child who has not reached the age of five by the school commencement date in Scotland?

  • “Nursery staff knew about it but said as he had no multi agency specialist support input I would not get funding.”
  • “They knew but seem to try to put you off the idea, make comments like “they’ll be fine” etc” 
  • “I was told it was unusual for a November born to differ and had to contact the council myself.”
  • “The nursery staff were as much in the dark as parents.”

QUESTION 5: What is your experience of the information provided by your local authority on deferral rights? Please give as much detail as possible.

  • “Awful. Varying degrees of knowledge. People telling us we “weren’t allowed” etc.”
  • “My experience all the way through the deferral process was that I was having to ‘fight’ the system to enable my son to be deferred. It seems to be quite a hostile system where the parent’s view is secondary to that of the nursery even though my son was only at nursery for two days per week.”
  • “I think it is incredibly upsetting as a parent that you have to justify why you feel your child would benefit from an extra year in nursery. For many parent it is an agonising decision that they second guess all the time. You also feel a bit like you are betraying your child as in order to do what you feel will be best for them you have to list all the ‘negative’ aspects of their development and personality. It’s a very upsetting experience.”
  • “I felt that I was much more ‘in the know’ than nursery staff, and was ‘keeping them In the loop’ with regards to The Give Them Time Campaign and other movements aiming to uphold these rights. The 1 member of teaching staff in the nursery probably knew the child’s fundamental right to defer their school start, but they were not at all forthcoming with information, and I would never have been told this right, had I not already known it myself. There are many parents/ guardians who simply don’t know this right, and I feel that nurseries should make it their job to inform.”

QUESTION 6: What is your experience of the process of applying to your local authority for a further year of nursery funding for your child’s deferral year? Please give as much detail as possible.

  • “I found it very stressful. I had to attend meetings, research and write letters, get my local MSP involved. Just trying to do the right thing.”
  • “The process itself was one horrendously stressful and awfully frustrating bureaucratic experience!!!”
  • “Stressful as told from everyone that funding would not be approved. It wasn’t initially but on appeal all deferrals were funded due to covid. Very poor support for parental input-my opinion was completely disregarded and I didn’t feel listened to at all.”
  • “Very little support and guidance. Very much appears as if it’s bingo and based on how assessor are feeling in the day rather than robust criteria. Forcing people to appeal, which adds additional stress and pressure to an already convoluted process to then overturn the majority of appeals is inexcusable. Do the job right the first time and you will save everyone a huge amount of time, energy and resources.”
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davepickering

Edinburgh reporter and photographer