Scottish Milk And Healthy Snack Scheme: Statutory Guidance For Local Authorities And Participating (Registered) Day Care Settings - updated 2025

4. Eligibility for the SMHSS

4.1 Day care settings may apply to the local authority to register for the Scheme where they:

• provide pre-school care to children for 2 hours or more per day; and
• are registered with the Care Inspectorate; and
• are registered to participate in the Scheme with the local authority in which the setting is located

4.2 The Scheme is available to all regulated settings offering pre-school day care, regardless of whether they are in receipt of ELC funding. The residence of the child is not of relevance; funding is made on the basis of the provision by settings, regardless of whether the child lives in the local authority with which the setting is registered. Local authorities will have different levels of information available to them on current systems and may wish to have different registration requirements in place for different settings.

4.3 In order to receive payment, settings must register to participate in the Scheme with the local authority in which the setting is located. If the setting is a chain or franchise, registration must be where each individual setting is located. As outlined by the Regulations, a local authority may ask a setting to provide any information it deems reasonable to support this process.

4.4 At a minimum, settings are required to opt-in to the Scheme, even where local authorities may hold all other relevant information. This is because any setting participating in the Scheme will be obliged to adhere to the Regulations, including provision of the benefit and monitoring and reporting obligations. Where a setting is run by the local authority, the local authority may confirm that it is opting in to the Scheme; this should be formally recorded.

4.5 Children who attend regulated childcare settings which have not registered with their local authority to be part of the Scheme will not be eligible to receive the benefit offered through the Scheme.

4.6 Children who attend unregulated childcare settings (those not registered by the Care Inspectorate) will not be eligible to receive the benefit offered through the Scheme.

4.7 Children will not receive the benefit offered through the Scheme if they attend a setting for less than 2 hours on an individual day.

4.8 Children will only receive the benefit offered through the Scheme once per calendar day regardless of how many additional hours they spend in an individual setting. Where children attend more than one setting in a day, they should still receive the benefit only once per day. Parents/carers and providers will be responsible for discussing how this should be managed in line with existing arrangements for agreeing division of responsibility for meals. The expectation is that the first setting in which a child spends 2 hours will provide unless agreed otherwise.

4.9 Children in receipt of childcare but who have commenced school or an equivalent (e.g. home-schooling) will not be eligible.