Expansion of funded early learning and childcare to 1140 hours: 2018-2025 national outcomes evaluation

Appendix B: Key definitions

• Children and family centre: Sometimes called community nurseries, children and family centres usually provide a full-day service for children aged up to five years. The majority are provided by the public sector. They usually prioritise children with the greatest needs, together with a range of support services for families.
• Crèche: Crèches provide drop-in care for children to enable adults to engage in activities such as education or training, shopping or attending a meeting.
• Daycare of children: a service that provides care for children on non-domestic premises for a total of more than two hours a day and on at least six days per year (Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010). This can include nurseries, family centres, crèches and playgroups, as well as school age childcare services. These services can be run by the public, private, or third sector. They must be registered with the Care Inspectorate, whether or not parents pay for the service.
• Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) – also referred to as ‘formal’ or ‘regulated’ ELC: ‘a service, consisting of education and care, of a kind which is suitable in the ordinary case for children who are under school age, regard being had to the importance of interactions and other experiences which support learning and development in a caring and nurturing setting’ (Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014). This can include nurseries, family centres, childminders and playgroups.
• Eligible two-year-olds (‘Eligible 2s’): two-year-olds entitled to the 1140 hours of government funded ELC. A two-year-old will be eligible if they are (or have been since their second birthday) looked after by a local council; are the subject of a kinship care order or a guardianship order; the parent receives certain benefits; or the parent is care-experienced.^[22]
• Funded ELC: the funded entitlement to up to 1140 hours of ELC, for all three- and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds, as set out in the 2014 Act. Funded ELC is delivered by a wide range of providers including nurseries and playgroups, from across the public, private, and third sectors and by childminders, and is regulated by the Care Inspectorate.

All parents have the legal right to defer their child’s entry to primary school if they are not yet five years old at the beginning of the school year. As of August 2023, all children who defer starting primary school will be able to access an additional year of funded ELC.

• Informal childcare: childcare provided by friends or family that is not regulated. It can be regular or ad hoc. The term ‘childcare’ is used when referring to combinations of childcare, including informal childcare.
• Nursery: nurseries typically provide ELC facilities for children aged up to five years. They are normally used by parents on a regular rather than drop-in basis and the service is provided as a minimum during school terms. Nurseries can take several forms, such as a private nursery, or a public sector nursery class or nursery school. The term ‘nursery’ is, however, commonly used to refer to all types of group ELC provision (excluding childminders).
• Paid-for ELC (or childcare): hours of regulated ELC purchased by parents from providers. This could either be additional hours of ELC purchased on top of the entitlement to 1140 hours of funded ELC, or ELC purchased for children who are not yet eligible for funded ELC. This could include a nursery, playgroup, or childminder.
• Playgroup: Mostly third sector services run by a parents’ committee, often with parents taking part in a rota to assist paid, qualified staff.
• Private providers: These are private businesses run by a sole trader, a partnership or a limited company. Some offer funded places funded by a local authority. All childminding services operate as a private business.
• Public sector providers: This includes services run by local authorities and a small number of services run by health boards.
• Third sector providers: Also known as the voluntary sector, third sector providers include charities and social enterprises.
• Partnership agreement (and ‘Funded Providers’): This is the agreement between local authorities and funded providers through which they deliver the ELC entitlement in line with the National Standard. Funded Providers are settings in the private or third sector, which could include private or third sector nurseries, playgroups, family centres, and childminders.
• Sustainable rates: the sum of money paid to a funded provider in the private and third sector and to childminders for each hour of funded ELC they deliver to eligible children in particular age groups. Local authorities are responsible for setting sustainable rates in line with Scottish Government and COSLA guidance.
• Funding Follows the Child: the joint Scottish Government and COSLA policy framework underpinning delivery of the 1140 entitlement. The Funding Follows the Child approach is intended to enable parents to access their child’s funded ELC entitlement from any setting – in the public, private, third or childminding sector – who meets the National Standard, has a place available, and has or is willing to enter into a contract with their local authority in line with the local delivery plan.
• National Standard: Under the Funding Follows the Child framework all providers who wish to deliver funded ELC have to meet the National Standard. The criteria in the National Standard focus on what children and their families should expect from their ELC experience, regardless of where they access their funded entitlement.