Coronavirus (COVID-19): re-opening childcare - impact assessment

Chapter 4: How socio-economic disadvantage has impacted on people's experiences.

Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment

We know from our work on the drivers of child poverty that there are clear risk factors associated with poverty in Scotland. We have identified 'priority families' as: those headed by a lone parent, families with a disabled adult or child, young mothers, minority ethnic families, families with a child under one year old, and larger families (with three or more children)^[68].

Evidence from both UK and international studies of early learning and childcare programmes^[69], including our own Growing Up in Scotland Study^[70], supports the fact that all children, and especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, can benefit in terms of social, emotional and educational outcomes from attending high quality early learning and childcare.

Increased access to high quality childcare in the early years offers opportunities to support young children to develop and learn, to build social skills and networks, and in turn to help reduce the poverty related attainment gap.

Access to critical childcare will have provided access to funded childcare for some low paid key workers for the first time.

The Scottish Household Survey^[71] shows those from more deprived backgrounds are less likely to have internet access, so disadvantaged parents may struggle to access online learning support for their children.

During the closure period, families with children may have been guided towards online resources for advice and support.

Reopening could have a particularly positive impact on families who face socio-economic disadvantage. During the closure period, there was more reliance on online resources and guidance that was required during the closure period. With reopening, families will be able to seek or receive wider support through their child's attendance at childcare settings.

We know that for families affected by poverty and disadvantage, access to food during a childcare session (free meals at ELC, breakfast clubs and snacks included with afterschool clubs) is a vital support. While access to nutritious food has been part of the response during the COVID-19 pandemic, a return to settings will benefit these families.

With opening up of all regulated childcare services, local authorities will be able to meet their statutory duty to provide funded ELC and will increasingly be working towards the expansion to 1140 hours. Parents in low-income households with young children will therefore benefit from increased access to funded childcare

Low-income households are more likely to be in jobs that cannot transfer to home-working.

Parents in low-income households with young children can benefit from increased access to childcare in terms of the hours they can work out of the home.

The opening of private ELC settings will likely impact working families positively, who will benefit from accessing specific hours of provision. Similarly low income families will benefit from the re-opening of local authority settings as this is the provision they access predominantly.^[72]