Welcome!


Welcome to our new fortnightly policy blog! I’m Lorna and I’ve been policy officer with Early Years Scotland (EYS) since August 2019. I’ve decided to start this blog to talk about key issues and concerns for both the ELC sector and the children and families we work with, as well as any developments or changes in the world of policy which relates to our work. I welcome comments, input or suggestions about the content of future blog posts. I can also be found talking all things policy on my Twitter page, @EYSPolicyLorna, so please give me a follow!

For the majority of my time with EYS, there have been unprecedented challenges as a result of COVID-19. Setting closures, a delay to roll-out of the Scottish Government’s flagship policy extending Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) to 1140 hours per year for 3–5-year-olds and eligible 2-year-olds, continuous changes to reopening guidance, strict restrictions on playgroups and parent and toddler groups and significant financial pressures mean that the ELC sector is in a very different place coming out of the pandemic than it was going in. That’s not to say that issues which existed prior to the world turning upside down aren’t still prevalent – the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector continue to face huge challenges around staff retention, losing valuable workers to local authorities where the pay and the terms and conditions are, in the main, much more favourable. are also real and genuine concerns about the levels of funding provided to the PVI sector and whether these are sustainable, particularly in the world we live in now. Despite the level of commitment workers in our sector showed throughout lockdowns and restrictions, continuing to go out to work so that key workers could carry out their essential roles safe in the knowledge their children were looked after, we continue to be undervalued.

EYS is, however, absolutely committed to ensuring that the voices of the sector, as well as children and families, are heard at the highest levels decision-making. There are a range of ways in which we can influence policy, practice and legislation – at this stage, when the world is slowly starting to fall back into place, we have to take those opportunities and do all we can to make things better for our sector and to improve the lives of our children as much as possible. 

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