Sustainable Rates Review Implementation Working Group Minutes: July 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Association of Directors of Education in Scotland (ADES) Resources
• Care and Learning Alliance (CALA)
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) (Chair)
• Early Years Scotland (EYS)
• Improvement Service
• National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) Scotland
• Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA)
• Scottish Government (SG)

Apologies

Apologies were received from Directors of Finance Network, the ADES Early Years Network and some members of the ADES Resources Network.

Items and actions

Minutes and Actions of Previous Meeting

The Chair thanked members for providing comments and feedback on the minutes from the working group meeting on 20 May and advised that the minutes have now been finalised and are intended to be published on the Scottish Government website shortly.  

Following the working group meeting on 20 May, there is one outstanding action from the minutes of the working group. The Diffley Partnership will share a copy of the anonymised feedback received from childminders with the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) in due course. 

There were no further questions or comments from members on the minutes.

Cost Survey 

The Chair invited the Diffley Partnership to provide an update on engagement numbers and completion rates on the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) cost survey. 

The Diffley Partnership provided a table outlining the survey response rate up to 2 July which provided a breakdown by local authority and included the number of participants who have engaged with the survey and those who have submitted completed responses. Around 530 providers had engaged with the survey (this meant they had started to complete the survey), however only 207 providers had completed it. Diffley Partnership highlighted that many providers were participating up to the point where they are asked to provide more detailed financial information, some which is commercially sensitive, and then not returning to complete the full survey. 

Wednesday 2 July was the original deadline date for the surveys closing. The number of completed survey responses remained below what would be required to produce all of the detailed and robust analysis required, with responses remaining very low in some local authority areas. The Diffley Partnership indicated that, ideally, they would need around 350 responses to produce all of the detailed breakdowns of the data requested in the procurement specification (however a range of robust analysis could still be produced with a lower number of responses). It was agreed with members to extend the ELC cost survey deadline to Friday 18 July to encourage further participation.

Feedback from survey participants indicated that although the survey is easier to complete than previous national cost collection surveys, it was still too time-consuming to complete (and with many services struggling to find the spare time to complete). There were also particular concerns around the collection of commercially sensitive information and questions about the purpose of some of the information being collected. However, there has been positive feedback on the guidance provided, which has been helpful in supporting participants through the completion process.

The Diffley Partnership outlined next steps to boost the survey responses and intend to issue communications to participants who have submitted partial responses to encourage final completion. They have also tried to increase participation by issuing general reminders to providers with guidance documents attached to help minimise the burden on participants when completing the survey. In addition, the Diffley Partnership will follow up with targeted, regional communications in areas where response rates are lower and will also reach out directly to the owners of individual settings to support this. The sector representative organisations also offered to help Diffley Partnership with local targeting in areas where response rates were particularly low.

The Diffley Partnership also noted that data quality checks will be completed as part of this process which includes cross checks, comparing related variables to catch errors and identifying outliers which may require follow ups with providers to fill gaps in the data. 

It was noted that the current number of complete responses is around 50% of the number of participants who have engaged with the survey for day care of children, but the numbers are much lower for childminding services (where the completion rate was below 20%). The Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) advised that the format currently available for childminders to provide information is good and changing this approach is unlikely to make a difference in the number of completed survey responses. It was highlighted that the main concern for this group is the time required to complete the survey and the difficulty in extracting the data for childminders who provide a mixture of funded and non-funded hours.  Childminders have also voiced concern on the questions included in the survey related to commercially sensitive information.

To help increase participation amongst childminders the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) offered to issue a joint communication with the Diffley Partnership, highlighting the importance of the exercise and the deadline extension.

Members highlighted that this was also a busy time of year for services (ahead of the end of term), and the sector is currently experiencing survey fatigue which may be affecting the current response rate. Members requested that consideration is given to identify a different way to collect this data in future years. 

Members highlighted that case studies could be a useful approach, with the potential to establish a focus group that includes a diverse range of childminders, covering rural, urban, and other areas. There may also be opportunities to develop additional case studies within this group. The Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) indicated they would be happy to explore this further, with the work ideally taking place over the summer, specifically in August.

Actions

• Members agreed that the survey should be extended to Friday 18 July, to encourage higher survey participation numbers
• Diffley and the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) to issue a joint communication for childminders to raise awareness of the extended deadline and encourage participation
• The Diffley Partnership will provide a breakdown showing the response rate per local authority for members
• Members agreed to work with Diffley Partnership on local targeting to encourage higher survey participation numbers
• Diffley to work with the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA) to explore the potential for a childminder focus group over the summer period to collect further information on ELC costs for childminders
• Secretariat will share a copy of the presentation delivered by the Diffley Partnership

2026 to 2027 Sustainable Rates Guidance

Paper 7.01 was circulated by secretariat in advance of the meeting to provide background on the work taking place to update the Sustainable Rates Guidance for 2026 to 2027. The supporting paper provided a suggested approach to updating the Sustainable Rate Setting Guidance for 2026 to 2027.

One of the key outputs from the ELC cost survey will be revised Sustainable Rates Guidance for 2026 to 2027. The Chair invited members to take this opportunity to share any initial thoughts or suggestions regarding the potential shape and content of the guidance and to consider any areas that they would like to see incorporated moving forward.

Members raised concerns over the response rate for the ELC cost survey and asked that consideration is given to what the guidance could look like if the number of response rates does not reach the preferred amount. 

Members requested additional time to consider the paper as timescales for reviewing the content did not allow for thorough feedback. 

ACTION 

• Secretariat will write to members in July to request feedback on discussion paper 7.01

Forward look to agenda for next meeting and any other business (AOB)

The Chair thanked members for attending and participating.

The Chair advised members that the next SRRIWG will be held in September and will focus on consideration of the initial analysis of the ELC cost survey and to determine next steps. Following this, the next Sustainable Rates Review Implementation Working Group (SRRIWG) is likely to be held in October which will focus on the 2026 to 2027 Sustainable Rates Guidance and the outputs of the ELC cost survey.