Publication - Advice and guidance
Early learning and childcare - sustainable rates for funded providers: overview 2024 to 2025
Sets out information provided by local authorities on the sustainable rates they have set for providers in the private, third and childminding sectors to deliver funded ELC in line with guidance published for setting these sustainable rates.
Annex B
Funding Arrangements for Delivery of Free Meals
- The Sustainable Rate Setting Guidance states that funding to deliver the free meal commitment will be additional to the sustainable rate for funded providers. Local authorities must continue to ensure that they are transparent as to the funding being provided to private and third sector providers for the delivery of the free meal commitment.
- Local authorities may fund the free meal commitment by providing funding as a separate payment per meal, or as a ‘top-up’ to the sustainable rate.
- Local authorities may alternatively meet the free meal commitment by providing appropriate meals directly from in-house catering.
- Table B1 sets out information on the payments made to funded providers to deliver the free meal commitment in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Additional contextual information is provided in the comments column.
- Some local authorities also reported that they paid a separate rate to childminders. Where this is the case, the information is provided in the Comments column of Tables B1 and B2.
- The Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme offers funding for a daily portion of plain fresh cow's milk (or specified alternative) and a healthy snack (fresh fruit or vegetables) for pre-school children spending 2 hours or more in the care of a regulated day care provider and/or childminder that has registered for the Scheme.
- The payments for the Scottish Milk and Healthy Snack Scheme are delivered separately from the free meal delivery and are not covered in this report.
Table B1: Overview of funding for settings delivering free meals using a separate rate for children receiving funded ELC in 2023-24 and 2024-25
| Local Authority | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen City | £2.75 | £3.00 |
| Aberdeenshire[3] | £2.75 | £2.96 |
| Angus | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| Argyll and Bute | £4.23 | £4.23 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| Dundee City | £2.10 | £2.15 |
| East Ayrshire[4] | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| Edinburgh | £3.10 | £3.10 |
| Eilean Siar | £2.00 | £2.00 |
| Glasgow City | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| Highland | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| Moray | £2.35 | £2.35 |
| North Ayrshire[5] | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| North Lanarkshire | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| Orkney Islands | £2.40 | £2.60 |
| Perth and Kinross[6] | £2.80 | £3.00 |
| Renfrewshire | £3.00 | £3.00 |
| Scottish Borders[7] | £2.40 | £2.64 |
| Shetland Islands | £2.16 | £2.33 |
| South Ayrshire | £3.11 | £3.11 |
| West Dunbartonshire | £3.00 | £3.00 |
Table B2: Overview of funding for settings delivering free meals via a top up to the Sustainable Rate for children receiving funded ELC in 2023-24 and 2024-25
| Local Authority | 2023-24 | 2024-25 |
|---|---|---|
| Clackmannanshire[8] | £0.50 | £0.50 |
| East Dunbartonshire | £0.50 | £0.50 |
| East Lothian | £0.35 | £0.35 |
| East Renfrewshire[9] | £0.57 | £0.57 |
| Falkirk[10] | £0.40 | £0.43 |
| Fife | £0.40 | £0.40 |
| Inverclyde[11] | £0.50 | £0.50 |
| Midlothian | £0.40 | £0.43 |
| South Lanarkshire | £0.50 | £0.50 |
| Stirling[12] | £0.40 | £0.43 |
| West Lothian | £0.30 | £0.32 |
Contact
Email: elc@gov.scot