Funded early learning and childcare 2026-27: guidance for setting sustainable rates

Section 9: Monitoring delivery

83. The Scottish Government is committed to collecting and publishing data on sustainable rates annually. The reports are available on the Scottish Government website. On occasion, as part the sustainable rates data collection reports, information will also be collected and published on the general support packages made available by local authorities to funded providers.

84. As part of their role in delivering the Funding Follows the Child approach, local authorities are responsible for assessing and monitoring compliance with the National Standard in all funded providers, including local authority settings, as part of their contract management arrangements and in their role as guarantors of quality. Further information on this role is set out in Section 3 of the Funding Follows the Child (FFtC) Operating Guidance.

85. This includes monitoring payment of the real Living Wage pay commitment by private and third sector providers delivering funded ELC. In line with Audit Scotland’s recommendation to monitor payment of the real Living wage for funded ELC providers, the Scottish Government has been working with local authorities to establish a means of monitoring payment of the real Living Wage.

86. This includes gathering data through the Care Inspectorate’s Annual Return and the SSSC Have Your Say survey. Information on what individuals should do if they are not in receipt of the real living wage has been made available on the Scottish Government website. This offers a clear route for workers to raise concerns if they are not receiving the real Living Wage, where their employer is expected to be paying it.

87. As set out in the Funding Follows the Child Operating Guidance, whilst it is for local authorities to decide how to fulfil their responsibility to assess and monitor compliance with the National Standard, it is important that the process is transparent and proportionate. It is also important that local authorities – as part of the commitment to simplify the process for, and reduce the burden on, providers to deliver the funded entitlement – share practice in order to encourage consistency of approach.