Wednesday December 10th 2025
Law Primary School nursery is one of those affected by change of opening times
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
Calls to delay the reduction of opening times for some East Lothian nurseries for two years to allow families to prepare have been rejected by councillors.
East Lothian Council has said it intends to change the number of weeks some of their nurseries are open throughout the year to return them to school term times only from August next year.
However at a meeting this week Conservative councillor Jeremy Findlay raised an amendment, seconded by Councillor George McGuire, to a report on the changes calling for an additional year’s delay to the plans.
He told the meeting families planned years ahead for nursery care and the move discriminated against mothers, in particular.
And he said he had heard from one woman, who works as a nurse, and says she will have to give up her job after losing the holiday care for her children.
Speaking as education chiefs presented elected members with an update on the changes, Councillor Findlay said: “This is not about whether or not to change the model it is about timing.
“One of the common complaints from parents is that they plan their lives a long way in advance both in terms of when they plan to have children but consequentially how they structure their lives, as in most cases both parents work around child care.
“This policy was announced too late to effectively plan their lives. In one case one parent may have to give up her job as a nurse to enable her to look after
her children and in another case (they are)having to restructure employment contracts around child care. This has obvious impact on family incomes as well as, in the first case, a negative impact on the NHS.”
The changes to opening times come four years after the local authority introduced the alternative year round model giving parents the option of spreading their 1140 hours of free nursery time over 48 weeks instead of the traditional 38 weeks and keeping some nurseries open over the summer holidays.
The local authority says seven nurseries who offer the additional weeks will return to the 38 week year but insist they will ensure that parents can still access nursery care during the holidays.
And they stressed it will not mean anyone loses out on the hours of care they are entitled to, just that they will have to spread the hours within fewer weeks of the year.
However Mr Findlay told the meeting the plans should be delayed and an equality impact assessment carried out.
He said: “This has more of an impact on the mothers as in most cases the father is the main breadwinner, at least in the ones I have been approach by and this goes against one of the main premises of 1140 hours policy by Scottish Government which was to encourage mothers to go back to work.”
Councillor Lyn Jardine presented an alternative amendment from the SNP group calling for a draft Early Learning and Childcare Sufficiency Statement to be prepared setting out the the balance of 38- and 48-week provision by locality, projected demand, and any identified risks to equitable access.
She also asked for further reviews by council officers of the impact on families and admission criteria and a ‘strengthened engagement with affected families and providers’.
Councillor Jardine criticised the council’s Labour administration for not ensuring the planned changes were made in a transparent way.
She said: “Families depend on year round child care to work, to study and to keep essential services running. When changes of this scale are being proposed it is the role of the administration to ensure the process is transparent, the changes are meaningful and that councillors have full evidence before making decisions.
“From a parent’s perspective that simply hasn’t happened.”
Council leader Norman Hampshire hit back saying: “This administration has had funding from government which is not adequate to deliver the service, a commitment given by the Scottish Government.
“We are now faced with trying to deliver a service that people think they are entitled to without the funding we need. We have given a commitment to try and accommodate parents whose lives are made difficult by this and will do what we can.”
Despite criticism of the administration the council leader said he would support the SNP amendment as he agreed with the additional requests.
Councillors voted in the majority to support the SNP amendment and reject the Conservative amendment.
Councillors supporting the SNP call for additional reviews and information were Shamin Akhtar, Ruaridh Bennett, Fiona Dugdale, Andy Forrest, Neil Gilbert, Norman Hampshire, Lyn Jardine, Carol McFarlane, Colin McGinn, Shona McIntosh, John McMillan, Lee-Ann Menzies, Brooke Ritchie Tom Trotter, and Colin Yorkston.
Councillors supporting the Conservative amendment were Lachlan Bruce, Donna Collins, Jeremy Findlay and George McGuire. Councillor Kenny McLeod voted for the officers recommendation to simply note the report.
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