School age childcare services - regulation review: feasibility study – final options appraisal

2. The Legislative Context

When discussing childcare, the Scottish Government refers to care for children under the age of five as “early learning and childcare” (ELC) and care for children over the age of five as “school age childcare” (SACC). The latter covers care before and after school, and during school holidays.

In Scotland, all care services are regulated through the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010. Both ELC and SACC services fall within the same care service type “day care of children” which includes all care for children under the age of sixteen. This means that, like the other care services listed in schedule 12 of the Act, they are regulated by the Care Inspectorate (CI) and their staff must register with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC).

However, it is important to note that not all services that children may use before or after school or in the holidays are covered by legislation. Section 4 of the Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Excepted Services) Regulations 2012, specifically excludes services from registering as day care of children services unless their “primary purpose is the provision of care to children”. This means that “organised children’s activities”, such as sports or arts clubs, are not classed as “childcare” because their primary purpose is providing activities rather than care. These types of service are therefore not regulated by the CI, nor are their staff required to register with the SSSC. Unless services are affiliated with a governing body or parent organisation which has its own quality assurance procedures, there is currently no national oversight of organised children’s activity services.

It should be noted that activities and after-school clubs run by schools are regulated separately and have their own procedures to follow.