Early Adopter Communities: process evaluation

Chapter 5. Implementation of systems change

This chapter explores the implementation of activities to achieve systems change. It first covers how these activities have been implemented before looking at the perceived effectiveness of these activities from the perspective of EAC staff and stakeholders, including enablers and challenges, and any early indicators of systems levels outcomes being achieved, where these were raised. It answers the systems level evaluation questions detailed in Chapter 1.

Evidence draws on the perspectives of EAC project staff, stakeholders and families based on interviews with these audiences as well as monitoring reports.

Key findings

• Scoping established childcare services in order that these could be used in the delivery of EAC provision and getting local stakeholders on board were important aspects of the design stage. While these had happened, staff noted that it can take time to embed change and to build trust with stakeholders.
• EAC governance and partnership working appeared to be working well, especially having project leads working at a strategic level and linking with other child poverty initiatives. EACs had formed partnerships with a range of partners at both the strategic and operational levels.
• Project leads and stakeholders stressed the need for multi-year funding to retain staff and plan services effectively.
• EAC funding has been used to provide some additional training for childcare providers, which had been received well.
• Although the focus of this report is on processes rather than impacts, it also notes early indications of some systems-level outcomes being achieved. Enablers to this included Scottish Government support; governance structures that facilitate close relationships; involving a wide range of partners; committed staff with a common goal; and regular contact between the EACs and partners.
• There was agreement among staff and stakeholders that, in principle, EAC services could be adopted in other areas. Perceived enablers included support from the local authority; applying learning from the current EACs; existing stakeholder relationships and integrating provision into local areas.
• However, sustainability of the EACs was thought to rely on continued Scottish government funding. Various barriers were also mentioned, particularly ongoing workforce challenges, but also the capacity of existing provision, Care Inspectorate staffing ratios and obtaining appropriate physical spaces.

How are EACs implementing activities to achieve systems change?

A range of activities intended to achieve systems change, which are outlined in the theory of change, have been implemented by EACs. This section provides detail on the way in which EACs have undertaken these activities, covering scoping and mapping exercises, governance, partnership working and staff training.

As with the implementation of childcare and family support activities, systems change activities had broadly been implemented as intended, and as set out in the theory of change. However, as noted above, EACs continue to evolve in line with the policy intention for them to take an iterative approach to the development of services and to test different approaches.

How have scoping/mapping been used to inform EAC design?

Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Glasgow and Inverclyde were chosen as EACs because they had displayed considered plans and thinking around local childcare systems and how these could support some of their most deprived communities. In terms of the specific location within each local authority, each project drew on a range of information to inform the decision on where to locate EAC services. Level of deprivation was a key consideration for each project, using the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) data on relative deprivation. For example, Alloa South and East (Clackmannanshire) is the most deprived area in the local authority and Linlathen (Dundee) is one of the 10 most deprived areas in Scotland. Other important factors included: existing childcare provision (e.g. number of existing providers; ratio of places available per number of children in the area); population size; and links to other initiatives (e.g. Dundee and Glasgow Child Poverty Pathfinders and Clackmannanshire Family Wellbeing Partnership).

EAC funding proposals included a range of quantitative indicators to show the level of need in the community. Indicators commonly used were: number of children in receipt of free school meals; number of children in receipt of school clothing grants; and percentage of children living in relative and/or absolute poverty. A wide range of other indicators were also mentioned, such as number of food banks, workless households, minority ethnic families, children with ASN in the area; pupil attainment rates; and youth offending rates.

As local authorities have focused on tackling child poverty for some time, they were able to draw on existing knowledge of what communities need. For example, Inverclyde drew on a report from the Scottish Poverty and Inequality Research Unit (2021) and evidence gathered for Child Poverty Local Action Reports, that showed a lack of local affordable out-of-school childcare in Port Glasgow, while Clackmannanshire drew on learning from their evaluation of delivering summer holiday provision in 2021. Having previous work to understand the child poverty landscape meant significant new scoping work was not always seen to be needed.

There was also recognition from local partners that services would continue to develop over time and that much of the learning comes from delivery.

"Even when you know what families are asking for, probably a lot of the real learning comes whilst you are implementing, and you continue to learn and understand what people are need and the complex needs of the family."

(Inverclyde representative)

Indeed, EACs did seek the views of families and partners on service design on an ongoing basis, as explored in Chapter 4.

Scoping existing local childcare provision was seen as an important element of the design stage. While childcare provision within each EAC was delivered by existing organisations (registered childcare providers or unregistered community organisations), there was some variation in use of existing versus new or expanded services. This depended on the number of existing providers there were locally and how well suited they were to taking part in the EAC. The Clackmannanshire and Glasgow projects include a larger number of childcare providers than Dundee and Inverclyde because there were more existing providers in those areas that could be brought together under the EAC.

Ensuring that relevant partners were on board was identified as an important element during the initial stages. Overall, EACs did not have to do a lot in this regard since childcare providers were generally pleased to take part.

"I just felt that it is a win for my parents, so anything that is going to benefit my parents, carers, kinship carers, anything that is going to benefit them: I'm in."

(Glasgow stakeholder)

There were also examples of providers who had already indicated to the local authority that they were interested in expanding their after school care offer.

In the case of specialist ASN provision, specifically, Clackmannanshire and Dundee recognised that there was a need for this and had approached organisations who they felt could address this gap. These organisations welcomed this opportunity:

"I've been screaming out for [ASN provision] in Dundee for years."

(Dundee stakeholder)

However, there was acknowledgement that it can take time to embed change. Some stakeholders and providers were initially more resistant. In one example, this was due to a difference in ethos around targeting support towards non-working parents while, in another, it was due to workload concerns.

Initial concerns were mitigated by EACs trying to minimise the input required from partners and build trust and relationships with stakeholders.

"[The EAC] enabled services to build partnership working and facilitate positive pathways to get everybody on board with having a shared purpose and aiming to try something a wee bit different. The partnership is getting stronger, and we still have regular catch ups. The more frequently that we discuss, plan, implement and learn, the more we could see people recognising that they have a role and can see the link between their service policy aims and the affordable childcare to reduce child poverty"

(Inverclyde representative)

In cases where EACs used existing childcare providers who were used to running school age childcare, they generally did not need to do much development work.

"We literally could have been told on the Friday and started on the Monday, because we know how to run the session."

(Clackmannanshire stakeholder)

Where services were expanded as a result of EAC funding, this involved changing operating hours to begin straight after school, recruiting additional staff, or offering additional hours. Some had also required further support to help them provide for children with ASN, which is discussed in Chapter 4.

How are the EACs being governed?

All projects are aligned to some extent with other local initiatives designed to tackle child poverty. However, some links are more formalised than others. The EAC in Clackmannanshire is integrated as one of four strands of the Clackmannanshire Family Wellbeing Partnership. The Dundee and Glasgow EACs sit under the education departments within their local authorities and have links to their local Pathfinders, as well as other initiatives to tackle child poverty, such as the Linlathen Fairness Initiative. However, there is less joint oversight than in Clackmannanshire. In Inverclyde, existing initiatives are not on the same scale as the Family Wellbeing Partnership or Pathfinders, but the project has had input from local partners already working to address child poverty. It is managed by the local authority 'Community Learning and Development, Community Safety & Resilience and Sport' team, which also leads on local work to tackle child poverty and is also governed by the Inverclyde Alliance Board through the Inverclyde Child Poverty Local Action Group.

In some EACs, governance arrangements involved reporting into respective boards on a regular basis as well as being part of working groups with other local stakeholders. This set up of having EAC leads working at a strategic level, as well as teams dedicated to frontline delivery, including family support, was praised.

"I think it aligns really well operationally with other structures. It allows for really practical discussions about the service, but it also means that there's scope to look at how it's strategically linked in with other services and community priorities…[The EAC structure is] a real positive and it certainly makes working with them in partnership easier."

(Dundee stakeholder)

Although EACs are governed at a local level, funding comes from the Scottish Government. Services are then procured by the EACs, and funding distributed to providers. While these processes were now running smoothly overall, there had been some initial challenges. A strong theme in interviews with project leads and stakeholders was the need for earlier funding confirmation and/or multi-year funding. Participants highlighted this would help with: procurement, retention of childcare staff, parental confidence that services would continue (so they could take on extra work, courses etc), delivery planning, avoiding the risk of a break in the service and reducing stress and pressure on stakeholders. One EAC reported having had to issue redundancy notices while awaiting funding confirmation while providers received questions from parents about whether services would be continuing and were concerned that parents had planned around a service which may no longer be running in the same way.

"We'll not go into anything if it's not sustainable. Not if projects are just six months. Don't want to dangle a carrot and then have it taken away."

(Dundee stakeholder)

"No, it is very frustrating. Very frustrating … we have got staff who may not have a job at the end of March. Most of them will still have a job with us, but they will have drastically reduced hours if we don't get any funding. So, I'm pretty shocked that we still don't know, because some charities, we are a charity, and I can't just cut the staff off, I have to give them notice."

(Clackmannanshire stakeholder)

One project lead said that the relatively short timescales for the first phase of funding had caused them to feel like they had to quickly get the service up and running and show impact.

In relation to local authority procurement, challenges in Clackmannanshire had resulted in childcare services provided by external providers starting delivery slightly later than local authority teams (e.g. sport and leisure teams). They felt that grant funding letter delays, single year funding and spending deadline restrictions also contributed to complications with possible procurement routes. Both Clackmannanshire and Inverclyde project leads noted that, because of the complexity and legal framework around the provision of childcare and whole-systems approaches, engaging with finance and procurement and other local government colleagues earlier in the funding process would have given them a better understanding of the challenges and what they could achieve within the given timescales.

There had been some initial challenges with distribution of funding to childcare providers, which have since been addressed. For example, in Clackmannanshire, administrative issues around procurement had taken some time to overcome. In Glasgow, GDPR had prevented the EAC from communicating details around funding for individual families. While families could share this information with their service, the EAC also sent a monthly update to let services know how much to invoice per child.

How and with whom are the EACs working in partnership?

As described above in relation to project governance and alignment, partnership working had begun at the initial design stage and was ongoing, with different partners and providers involved to varying degrees at different stages. Partnerships existed at both the strategic and operational levels.

EAC partners included: schools, childcare providers, various teams within local authorities (including employability, community planning and children's services), welfare advice, early years, colleges, and the training sector. Further details of individual partners are included in the theories of change (Appendix A). There were a mix of new and strengthened partnerships.

Wider partnerships are continuing to develop. For example, in Dundee, regular meetings have recently been established between the project lead and two wider family support initiatives that work with the same family groups. In Glasgow, a strategic group has been set up between the EAC and staff working in the Glasgow Life finance team (a third sector organisation supporting culture and sport in Glasgow). This group, which may be expanded further, aims to maximise referrals between income maximisation support teams and the EAC and is considering adding the QR code for the Glasgow Life financial service to the EAC application form. Clackmannanshire highlighted a range of cross sectoral partnerships they had formed.

"Broader work, led by the Family Wellbeing Partnership and authority included a partnership with Columba 1400, colleagues from different directorates and different sectors including the DWP and NHS were brought together for values-based leadership experiences. This created the environment and relationships for partnership working within the Child Wellbeing Partnership and beyond. This led to us building relationships to go and collaborate with a broad mix of people. We are, for example, leading a working group around Universal Credit along with DWP, Employability team and Child Poverty Coordinator."

(Clackmannanshire project lead)

EACs had also collaborated with each other in order to share learning.

Perceived success of systems change activities

This section considers stakeholder views on the extent to which activities to achieve systems change are proving effective. Although the focus of this report is on processes rather than impacts, it also notes early indications of systems-level outcomes being achieved, where these were raised. In doing so, it explores the perceived enablers that have facilitated this, as well as any challenges experienced. Where enablers directly relate to a perceived outcome, these are noted in that context. Overarching enablers are covered subsequently.

Perceived early indicators of systems-level outcomes

The experiences of EAC leads and partners point towards some progress on a number of the system level outcomes set out in the theory of change (and broader outcomes identified in the Scottish Government's Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26: Logic model towards system change in the child poverty context). The first of these is stakeholder buy-in and improved partnership working. As described previously, stakeholders had generally bought into the programme and EACs had formed new partnerships and developed existing ones. EACs were considered to be well aligned with other local initiatives and working effectively with partners. Effective partnership working was considered the catalyst for progress on other outcomes: the system being integrated within communities, improved understanding of how to deliver high quality childcare and continued improvement of EAC policy.

EAC staff and partners reported that the closer partnership working was facilitating the integration of the system within the community. They spoke about increased and strengthened links between local organisations, with one partner in Dundee going further by saying it felt like the EAC had made Linlathen 'feel like a community again'. The family support worker role was considered an important enabler in this, complementing the school's support worker by providing a more focused service and a link to wider community support for families. The fact that a space within the primary school was available for parents to meet with the EAC support worker was seen as a further strength, given past experience of families being reluctant to travel far for support. Stronger community connections between partners, in turn, benefitted families, with their awareness of supports increasing.

The integration of the system within the communitywas also felt to have reduced duplication, benefiting both professionals and families. Close working relationships had led to events and activities to reach families being held jointly by the EAC and Child Poverty Pathfinder teams in Dundee. Joint events were considered to benefit families as they can access a wide range of support at a single event.

"It just feels like why would you, you know, why would the Pathfinder have an event and then we have got an event here, and then [name of partner] has got an event in another part, where we could bring it all together."

(Dundee stakeholder)

They were also mindful of the need to coordinate contact with individual families to reduce duplication from the perspective of families, for example in the provision of information. The project lead described how the projects had worked together to agree that keyworker staff communicate about the families they were working with. This joint working was felt to be important in ensuring that trusting relationships between staff and families were maintained.

"We want to try and prevent the families having to say the same thing. [They should] say it once and not have to continually keep saying it."

(Dundee project lead)

As a result of partnership working within the EAC, two childcare providers in Clackmannanshire and the provider and school in Dundee had been able to share equipment for children.

There were also discussions around the fact that projects can have unintended consequences for other organisations and families. Partners described being mindful of this and felt that close working relationships, with a broad range of stakeholders 'round the table', helped to minimise this risk.

"….anything that we do, we are looking at how would that affect what we are offering, how does that affect the families, how does that affect whatever, the Pathfinder, or how does that affect the Child Poverty Fairness Initiative? How do we link in and how we can support them? [...] So, that is where we have been making sure that we are connected in with other services via the Yard, or social work, or whoever, just to make sure that we are not doing something that is going to have an effect on any other provision."

(Dundee project lead)

Additionally, bringing together partners at steering group meetings and joint events had facilitated new means of contact which were felt to have the potential for increased and easier communication. An example of a practical way in which this had happened between community organisations was the creation of a WhatsApp group at a training session. This had enabled a range of partners to share information more easily.

Another way in which close partnership working had impacted practice and helped to increase understanding of how to deliver high quality childcare was ensuring continuity from school to afterschool club in terms of joint approaches to child welfare. One specific example of this was the school sharing with the afterschool club the changes they were making to how they respond to children who use scripting. This meant that children would have the same experience from one setting to the next. This sharing worked in both directions. Having the afterschool club located in the school was considered to be an important factor in facilitating sharing of practice.

Finally, there was evidence of collaboration between EACs helping to lead to an improved understanding of how to deliver high quality childcare and continued improvement of EAC policy. Project leads had benefited from early opportunities to collaborate and share learning and resources, such as application forms. There was a desire for more collaboration going forwards.

Systems change enablers

In line with previous Scottish Government learning from place-based, system change initiatives to tackle child poverty, effective partnership working emerged as a key driver of system change. While all EACs spoke very positively about partnership working, it was noticeable that early indications of systems level outcomes being achieved had primarily been reported in Dundee. It appears that the combination of the Community Planning Partnerships, the Fairness Initiative and the EAC working together in a small local area was the main enabler of this.

Nonetheless, a number of overarching system level enablers emerged, including: Scottish Government funding and buy-in; effective design and governance structures that facilitate close working relationships between all relevant parties (both at strategic and operational levels); involving a wide range of partners; committed staff who are working towards a common goal; and regular contact between the EACs and their partners. These are now covered in turn.

Scottish Government funding and buy-in

It was acknowledged that the funding and buy-in from the Scottish Government was crucial. Funded provision would not be feasible within local authority budgets and enabled EACs to dedicate resource to the projects. Government backing was also viewed as important in helping EACs to justify the need to focus intensive support on the particular EAC areas, helping to achieve buy-in among wider partners. They felt this was a catalyst for collaboration, as it had given partners "permission" to prioritise their resources accordingly. This was also helped by the prominence accorded to EACs by the Scottish Government, with ministerial visits to services.

Effective design and governance structures

Decisions to locate EACs in areas with existing initiatives to tackle child poverty, and align them with these, had laid the foundations for systems change. This enabled EACs to benefit from, and contribute to, existing work. For example, in Clackmannanshire, the Family Wellbeing Partnership (of which the EAC is one strand) was considered to be the main driver of increased partnership working. This was due to having already established the conditions for systems change and giving people permission to do things differently. This also meant that all partners were working towards a common goal.

Similarly, the governance structures outlined earlier in this chapter were felt to have facilitated stronger links between EACs and other local stakeholders, supported the creation of strategic working groups and strengthened partnership working generally. For example, there was a view that the Inverclyde EAC being located within the 'Community Learning and Development, Community Safety & Resilience and Sport' team meant that they had a broad understanding of the local community, stakeholder needs, and other policy areas and initiatives.

"This feels like a good fit having affordable childcare based within the community development services. It feels as if that is where it should be, because we are trying to implement a whole system, family-centred approach to child poverty. If the service was based in education, a whole family approach would be more challenging for the schools to deliver."

(Inverclyde representative)

As part of governance arrangements, Glasgow also described having data sharing agreements in place with their providers which had ensured that they were following GDPR regulation and safeguarding guidelines. However, getting all providers to sign agreements had been challenging. This was primarily due to fear around legal repercussions if a mistake relating to data sharing was made.

Involving a wide range of partners across sectors

Stakeholders highlighted the importance of involving a wide range of partners, both in terms of sectors and roles (strategic and operational). This was particularly helpful in terms of ensuring planned activities have no unintended consequences (for example affecting benefits), knowledge sharing, and increasing links between services. Stakeholders also noted the importance of representatives from other sectors attending meetings and then being able to influence their own sectors.

Links established at the operational level were also considered a key enabler in providing a high level of support to families. In Dundee and Clackmannanshire, for example, EAC family support workers worked with the Pathfinder and Family Wellbeing Partnership teams, respectively, to best support families.

EAC staff

Providers spoke very highly of those they were working with within the EAC. In particular, knowledgeable, approachable and committed project leads were felt to have facilitated successful partnership working. They were seen to have an 'open door' approach and to have taken time to understand partners' needs.

"[The EAC lead] is so approachable, and so knowledgeable of the area, and so respectful of the work that we do, has taken the time to really get what we do, and been down here quite often […]. Equally, if I have an issue, or something is not going right, or have a problem with something, or just an idea I want to run past her, I can pick up the phone […]. It is very much on equal terms and that is, I feel, real development in this area. It is 100 per cent because of the Family Wellbeing Partnership and her role. But I think she is very special in her role."

(Clackmannanshire stakeholder)

"Honestly, through it all, especially at the beginning, [the EAC lead] was getting bombarded with us all asking question after question after question, and she has handled it excellently. [EAC staff member] has been a great addition to the team, [they are] very, very, helpful as well. They are [both] very accessible, you don't feel like what you are asking is silly, a silly question, or it is a hassle for them to get back to you. When you contact them, they get back to you very quickly."

(Glasgow stakeholder)

This regular contact was viewed as vital to effective partnership working. Typically, partners communicated with EACs and, to a lesser extent, other partners, on an ad hoc basis, whether by email, calls or in person.

Systems change challenges

There had also been challenges to achieving systems change. These included consistency and alignment of childcare offers, and establishing ways of working with providers, discussed below. Challenges engaging stakeholders at the buy-in stage have also been discussed above.

Consistency and alignment of childcare offers

In areas such as Clackmannanshire, where there were multiple providers, the EAC described a tension between providing a consistent offer while at the same time maintaining a diverse offer that meets the needs of a wide range of families. To address this, the EAC brought together partners to develop a Providers' Charter for School Age Childcare in Clackmannanshire.

"We felt it was really important that regardless of which service they attend, children and young people should have a consistent experience. One way to support this across a diverse range of providers was to come together and develop a providers' charter."

(Clackmannanshire project lead)

In Inverclyde, there was a concern raised that childminders were losing families to funded EAC provision, where families would otherwise have to pay to use a childminder. To address this, and offer more services for families, the EAC was aiming to include funded childminding provision in future.

Establishing ways of working with providers

EACs and providers described some challenges in working together. From the perspective of providers, the extra administration, often required in tight timeframes in the early stages, had caused some challenges. EAC leads noted the difficulties in arranging in-person meetings with service managers due to the fact that they have an operational role in running their service.

Data protection legislation and data sharing was also highlighted as a challenge in multi-agency partnership working. It was recognised that this could have a potential impact on children's experiences at after school care provision.

What is needed for future scalability of the EACs?

EAC staff and partners were asked about their views on future scalability of services and the potential challenges of scaling up. There was agreement that, in principle, the approach could be transferred to other areas. Perceived enablers of this included: direction and support from the local authority; applying learning from the EAC project; existing stakeholder relationships and fully integrating the provision into the local area.

"I do think that EACs should be involved [in expanding into other parts of the local authority] because of the learning that we have had in order to make sure that we are providing a consistent whole systems approach […], I think that the EACs need to be the driving force in that. It might be that we bring that collaborative conversation to anyone that sets up a childcare in the area. Our role might be to facilitate and share learning. The public sector role might be to create the systems around families, create opportunities and facilitate partnerships and collaboration to improve outcomes for families, including the offer of affordable out of school childcare."

(Inverclyde representative)

"When asked to develop a proposal for expanding our offer we formed a strategic group of key stakeholders and asked the people in the group to suggest how and where to expand. Other organisations had heard about the impact the work was having in the community and were keen to be involved."

(Clackmannanshire project lead)

There were, however, considerations relating to the monitoring and evaluation of EAC activities which, it was noted, had taken considerable staff time and effort. Further detail on this is included in the associated evaluability assessment.

Emerging themes on the infrastructure also required for scalability of EACs were closely linked to short-term outcomes included in the theory of change: increased financial security for providers including through improved awareness and use of public funding and benefits; enhanced childcare workforce; and sufficient capacity to meet the needs of target families.

Sustainability and future funding

Fundamentally, ongoing Scottish Government investment was considered essential for services to continue in their current form and expand into other communities. This was particularly in relation to providing funded childcare places and funding additional staff such as family support workers.

"We couldn't do what we are doing without the extra investment from Scottish Government, because to try and do this within current budgets and structures would be almost impossible."

(Inverclyde representative)

In order for after school childcare delivery to be sustainable, projects highlighted the need to encourage families to take up all the benefits they are entitled to. In several areas, projects were working with partners, including DWP, to explore which sources of funding best meet the needs of families and/or how to encourage families to take up what they are entitled to. Clackmannanshire felt that there was a "risk" that families use EAC funding rather than Universal Credit because it was "barrier free". However, recent work to create a pathway to support this has resulted in some families, in registered childcare settings, being supported to use Universal Credit. One EAC noted that they would consider replicating the Glasgow funding model if provision was to scale up.

In relation to financial security for EAC providers, there were some mixed views. While some felt it had given more stability and job security, others felt it was more precarious relying on funding compared to payments from parents.

Childcare workforce

Staff recruitment and retention difficulties posed a further challenge to the sustainability and scaling up of EAC provision. This was a known challenge in the childcare sector and EACs had been involved in workforce development activities to try to address this. Their input has typically taken the form of joining existing initiatives or helping to set up new pieces of work, rather than leading new workstreams. Of the four local authorities, Clackmannanshire appeared to have progressed furthest in workforce development activities. In this area, the EAC had been involved at a strategic level as part of a Childcare and Childminding pathways working group that meets monthly and whose work includes commissioning pieces of research. As part of this, it was supporting a partner organisation to explore opportunities to work more closely with the local college to develop the workforce:

"We are collaborating with a partner from the Childcare and Childminding pathways group to understand the journey from college to employment better."

(Clackmannanshire project lead)

The group had also explored the opportunities for supporting parents accessing childcare who may be interested in working in childcare themselves and had supported a small number of parents to take up paid placements or volunteering opportunities with providers. Similar work with parents was underway in Glasgow. However, both Clackmannanshire and Glasgow reported a general lack of interest among parents, with the working hours being an issue, as well as the fact that they may still need to find childcare for their own children. Clackmannanshire felt that there was more potential in the work they were undertaking with students.

Other examples of local workforce development with which EACs had been involved included jobs fairs and an employability services wage subsidy initiative to support childcare providers (including EAC providers) financially. There was also an example of employment opportunities becoming available through links between EAC providers, with a volunteer at one provider in Clackmannanshire obtaining training and paid employment through another.

As noted above, only Glasgow is currently using childminders to deliver childcare, and only to a small number of families. However, all EACs were involved in conversations with the SCMA around increasing the number of childminders in their area, and whether current childminders could offer EAC funded hours. There had been some challenges to date in engaging childminders. For example, Dundee reported no new childminders coming forward in response to their promotion.

One project also suggested that current early years staff qualifications needed for regulated childcare provision might be a barrier to increasing the workforce as there are elements of them that are not relevant to school age childcare. They raised the possibility of creating a separate qualification for after school provision.

Capacity and facilities

Care Inspectorate requirements on staffing ratios and physical space limited the ability of some EACs to increase the capacity of existing provision. Therefore, one EAC was considering using unregulated provision to overcome this, such as the Scottish Government-funded football clubs run by the Scottish Football Association. A provider in Clackmannanshire, however, noted the importance of considering the individual needs of children as opposed to focusing too intently on ratios.

"So, we could have, just say, 17 of them in here. We might have about five or six of them that are particularly challenging and there are four staff members, and in order to give the attention that they need, but also the other children, they need to have a positive experience during the time here and that is what matters to us. I would rather give everything to the [ones we have]."

(Clackmannanshire stakeholder)

Another potential challenge mentioned was securing suitable venues, that meet Care Inspectorate requirements, in areas where there is not existing provision.