Some parents will have to wait a little bit longer for the 1140 hours of free early years childcare as the council have updated the time-frame for the final phase of implementation.
Dalmellington ECC, Dalrymple ECC, Drongan ECC and Patna ECC were due to begin providing the additional hours from June this year, but that’s been pushed back.
The plan is for Drongan ECC to begin with the new offer in July, and the other three will not be in a position to offer the extra hours until August 19, says a report presented to a Cabinet meeting of the council last week.
The report says: “The second period of lockdown has had an impact on the revised final phase of the ELC expansion and therefore it has been necessary to review the position of 10 of the 14 ECCs.”
They say that ongoing recruitment for ELC practitioners and ELC Support Assistants, construction/refurbishment works, new applications for ELC in the current academic year, and changing guidance with regard to coronavirus, specifically the inclusion of pregnant woman who are in their third trimester in the shielding list, have all impacted on their plans to introduce the increased hours prior to August 2021.
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