THE cost of a part-time nursery place for children under two in Scotland has increased by 33 per cent since 2010, according to new research.
A survey by the UK-wide Family and Childcare Trust found parents are now paying an annual average of more than £6,000-a-year, representing a rise of five per cent since 2013.
In Scotland, prices in the Highlands and Islands and the North East have risen most steeply, with 25 hours of nursery care per week costing an average of £112.24 - a rise of almost 16 per cent in one year.
The two areas have also seen the cost of after-school pick-ups by a childminder increase sharply with an 18 per cent hike since last year, despite other regions in Scotland seeing a drop in prices.
Stephen Dunmore, chief executive at the Family and Childcare Trust said: "Since the last General Election, we have welcomed extra support for parents, but if childcare costs continue to rise at this pace the benefits of the new financial support to parents will be quickly eroded.
"In spite of positive initiatives implemented by the Scottish Governments, including more hours of free early education in Scotland, the childcare system across Britain needs radical reform."
Mr Dunmore went on to call for a all political parties to commit to an independent review of childcare.
The survey comes amid renewed fears Scottish parents are facing rising nursery fees as a result of a policy which is supposed to help with the costs of childcare.
Earlier this week, the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), which represents private nurseries, said Scottish Government funding, distributed through councils, was not sufficient to deliver the full cost of providing free places to families.
As a result, some 66 per cent of nursery owners said they were having to increase fees to make up the difference, which the NDNA said unfairly penalises parents.
Jacqueline Lamb, deputy chief executive of the Children in Scotland charity, said: "We endorse the central finding that families want and need more affordable high-quality provision for their children."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We have committed £329 million over the next two years, to deliver the expansion in annual funded early learning and childcare for all three and four year olds and our most disadvantaged two year olds to 600 hours - a 45 per cent increase in the provision that the Scottish Government inherited in 2007 that is worth £707 per child per year."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article