SCMA very much welcomes the continued priority within the Scottish Government’s new Programme for Government given to child poverty reduction, supporting families with cost of living pressures and economic development [1].
SCMA’s activities are already very closely aligned with these national priorities including through our innovative work, funded by the Scottish Government, to retain and recruit childminders which has already supported over 250 parents into work and to establish new childminding businesses in communities around Scotland [2]. In addition to supporting job creation and parental employment (with 72% of candidates meeting one or more poverty criteria), these new businesses are creating much-needed childminding places, enabling other parents to work and seek work. This contributes to child poverty reduction and local community and economic development. Many more potential new childminders continue to come through and there is much further potential in this work, as evidenced by all 32 Scottish local authorities now partnering with SCMA for us to undertake childminder recruitment in urban, rural and island areas. It will be essential that this work continues and in particular to provide the infrastructure, capacity and experience which will be required to support the delivery of the Scottish Government’s ambitious commitment on childcare.
We particularly welcome the Scottish Government's commitments to extend funded childcare from nine months to 12 years and on family support. These provide a very strong match with childminding which spans pre-school and school-age childcare from 0-12 years (or 16 years in the case of children with additional support needs) and childminders have been delivering all-age childcare for many years. Childminding is a very nurturing form of childcare and childminders have considerable experience to support this new childcare offer. Proportionately, more childminders care for babies (85%) and one year olds (88%) than any other provider and 87% of childminders provide school-age childcare [3]. This experience will be of great value in testing new delivery models which may be required, in helping to inform the development of these offers and childminders will also be required to deliver these commitments.
We recognise that no changes are imminent for childminders or other providers and that new offers will be phased in over the next five years. However, it will also be important to apply learning from the expansion of 1140 hours and to ensure that mistakes are not repeated. Many childminders were squeezed out by the expansion of funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) and we need to ensure that childminders, as registered childcare providers offering school-age childcare, are not similarly displaced by the prime funding of unregistered activity clubs. In parallel, it is important that the role of childminders in providing family support (both formal and informal) is more widely understood when developing a more holistic approach to family support and that childminders are a recognised part of this.
SCMA applauds the ambition within the Programme for Government 2026-2031 and stands ready to work collaboratively with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders in delivering these commitments for the benefit of children, families and communities across Scotland.
Graeme McAlister
SCMA Chief Executive
3 September 2026
[1] Programme for Government 2026-31, Scottish Government, 1 September 2026:
Programme for Government 2026 to 2031
[2] Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future:
Becoming a Childminder Helps Parents Take Their First Steps into Flexible Home Working
[3] Source: Care Inspectorate, Early Learning and Childcare Statistics