Childcare in Balerno

Been contacted by some very upset Balerno parents this week. Due to SNP/LibDem Council budget cuts Balerno After School Club is having to make changes that will result in the service no longer being registered or regulated by the Care Commission's successor Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS). While this will mean little practical change to the service itself it also means that parents who are currently able to use the childcare element of the  Working Family Tax Credit or Childcare Vouchers to contribute to the costs will now be excluded from doing so. Once again working families and single parents get hit hardest by ill thought out budget cuts imposed on our schools by the current Administration. In addition, compliance with the SCSWIS regulation standards is difficult and expensive and effectively make the best the enemy of the good taking a perfectly acceptable service outwith the regulatory framework that is intended to maintain high standards. It doesn't seem to make sense. I've met with the parents and the school management and while sympathetic to the plight of some families the school's hands are tied by continuing financial pressure from the centre. All the rhetoric about supporting hard working families is meaningless if the implications of these ham fisted cuts are not fully thought through.