'Nobody wins with this': Parents call for U-turn after East Lothian Council cuts nursery hours

East Lothian parents have hit out at council plans to reduce hours across seven nurseries – warning it will pile pressure on working families.

From next August, seven nurseries across the county, including Aberlady, East Linton and North Berwick’s Law, will move from full-year schedules to a term-time system – a reduction from 48 weeks to 38.

This would mean children attend Monday to Thursday for 6.5 hours and Friday mornings for four hours during term times only.

The council says it follows a review which found attendance in full-time nurseries is underutilised.

But it could be a real problem for mums like support worker Becca Blackie, who relies on nursery care for three-year-old Carson.

“They made this decision and didn’t involve parents, carers, and staff,” she told STV News.

“It has a massive impact on working mums. It spells more stress: financial stress as well as family stress, trying to find childcare. That’s a lot of pressure.

“Working mums want a career. We don’t just want to be known as ‘Mum’ – and we should be entitled to have children and keep a career going at the same time. Not everybody has extra money to provide for extra childcare.”

Carson has additional support needs, which will make any changes even harder to adjust to.

“It’s already challenging. We have to work with his needs and work around him,” she said.

“He is in a regular routine. It causes anxiety and distress when small changes happen, and he gets tired and easily stimulated. It will cause more distress – and he won’t get the same benefit.”

A number of parents have called on the council to rethink the plans.

They say it will leave many families scrambling for options, with working mums among those worst hit.

‘It’s a bit of a mess’

Dad-of-two Gavin McGregor says the shortage is causing “angst and stress” among parents he speaks to.

“It’s growing arms and legs – the whole thing is a bit of a mess,” he said. “There are lots of young families in the area, and there’s a dearth of places, both public and private. There’s a real strength of feeling.

“Children with disabilities are going to be really affected. Women take on the brunt of the childcare responsibilities; that’s going to have a big impact on the gender pay gap.

“If you think about roles that can’t work from home – teachers, NHS, public services – they can’t just shorten their hours or drop out to go collect their children. It’s going to impact local businesses; are they going to have to adjust working hours?

“They’re going to be faced with staff who might look at it and think they’re better off to come out of the workforce or take a career break, because it’s unaffordable and they can’t find other childcare options.

“A lot of people are stressed and worried as they need to plan ahead. Nobody wins with this.”

Carol Middleton runs private nursery Caz’s Kiddies in the Country.

“Private nurseries need to fill the gap unless East Lothian and the surrounding counties build more nurseries and fill them with more staff, which is a struggle as it stands.”

She added: “I think it’s getting harder. Parents are going to finish at 2.30pm to pick up at 3pm. What employer is going to give someone a four and a half hour day? That’s what’s going to happen.

“They’ve just been handed a grenade that’s going to go off in August.”

East Lothian Council says it will continue to offer at least one full-year setting in each area of the local authority, and that parents can also choose to use their funded hours at funded private nurseries or childminders to suit them.

Nursery hours have been slashed across seven providers in East Lothian STV News

An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “We want to make sure all families benefit from their full entitlement of high-quality early learning and childcare funding. We’ve carried out a review of current and future demand and have been working to increase capacity in our own nurseries as well as options from local funded partner providers.

“The changes to our own models from next August have been introduced primarily to increase the number of settings that offer a term-time only model while maintaining at least one full-year nursery in each area to provide an equitable offering.

“Attendance in our full-year nurseries is being underutilised, which results in children and families missing out on their full entitlement, our settings not operating as efficiently as they could, and impacts on our total capacity and resource across East Lothian.

“We will continue to offer at least one full-year setting in each area, and parents can also choose to use their funded hours at funded private nurseries or childminders to suit them.

“We are liaising directly with families regarding the changes.”