Monday March 2nd 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
Private nurseries have vowed to defend the principle of ‘funding following the child.’
West Lothian Council voted to end early years funding for private nurseries for children living out with the county.
Private nurseries intend to challenge this with a petition and have asked to address the council’s Education Executive
The £700,000 budget savings, officers argued, would protect council run nurseries and there are adequate spaces for the 104 children who currently come into West Lothian to use private nurseries.
Addressing the council ahead of the budget vote Andrew Carr of First Adventures Nursery in Linlithgow is the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) chair for the West Lothian network of nurseries. He gave evidence at the start of the meeting along with a parent and other early years providers. His nursery will be directly affected as many of the families live in neighbouring council areas.
He told the meeting: “Funding Follows the Child and “provider neutrality” support an ecosystem of ELC provision that meets both the scale and diversity of childcare needs across Scotland.
“For their part PVI settings and childminders answer a granularity of different circumstances that the state cannot match – certainly not without attracting egregious costs.
“It would see the council drawing its own boundary across a national policy, a nationally funded policy, and declaring its own interests as more important than those of children and families across Scotland.”
His closing argument asked councillors to consider the ambitious, absolutist language used in ELC policy and question if they could really say they have done everything they could have done to ‘get it right for every child’.
Councillors heard emotional pleas from a parent from South Queensferry whose sons use Little Bugs nursery in Abercorn. A mother pleaded with councillors: “Do not make council budgets a problem for our children.”
There was a plea to West Lothian Council to not follow in Edinburgh council’s footsteps. Mr Carr said this deviation from the principles of “funding follows the child” risks putting families in the position to lose their jobs, and to upset family life to the point of traumatising young children who rely on consistency in their day to day lives.
He said: “Families invest in their early years provision where ELC policy does not support them and the choice to keep their funding where it suits them most is their main task.”
Deputations also discussed implications of this decision not only impacting the families that use funded services from outside of West Lothian.
Providers in the West Lothian area have already been told that new children who live outside the council boundary will not be funded from next term, even if they have already got an accepted offer. In addition, cross-boundary children already at nursery will be forced to move places before August or lose their funded entitlement.
The NADA said: “The parents have chosen PVI nurseries because they meet their needs. Removing children from settings where they have already formed attachments with adults and children could be distressing for them.”
The Scottish Government is currently reviewing the Funding for the 1140 hours of early years care The programme gives money to local authorities for each child receiving childcare. It is a complicated logistical process. Some who work in the sector, including Sharon Fairley, who owns two nurseries in West Lothian urged a rethink.
She told the budget meeting that the whole system would be fairer if families were funded directly by Holyrood rather than the ELC programme being managed by councils.
Ahead of the budget decision a council spokesman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “West Lothian is not alone in considering this measure. For example, City of Edinburgh Council has already made a similar change with regards to their nursery provision.”
“We appreciate the potential impact this proposal may have on families who live out with West Lothian and rely on established childcare arrangements, and we recognise the importance of continuity and stability for children’s well-being. Should the proposal be approved, council officers would ensure clear and timely communication to allow families sufficient time to review and plan their arrangements. Council officers would also support any transition arrangements should families consider a move to one of our council establishments.”
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