CALLS for private nurseries to receive business rates relief have been backed by the sector.
A review of Scotland’s rates system recommended the move as part of wider support for childcare.
Led by former RBS chairman Ken Barclay, the review concluded that one of the most important ways to support economic growth was ensuring workers had access to "convenient, affordable and accessible childcare".
The Barclay Review said: "Although rates are only one overhead for this sector, we believe a reduction in the rates burden may help enable more of the workforce to return to work after starting a family.
"As such, we recommend that childcare nurseries benefit from a new 100 per cent relief from 2018/19. This should be evaluated after three years to ensure that benefits of the relief have been felt, including by parents and carers."
The plans, which will cost around £7 million a year, were welcomed by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA).
The NDNA has previously argued some establishments could have been put out of business because of business rate rises.
Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of NDNA, said: “We are absolutely delighted that our concerns have been heard and the evidence carefully looked at.
“Our case was that the high business rates will increase fees for parents and would lead to some providers having to close because they are unable to balance their books.
“This recommendation sends out a positive message to all childcare providers who are looking at how they can deliver expanded free early learning and childcare which will be brought in over the next few years."
In June, NDNA network chair Stephanie Dodds handed a petition to scrap business rates to MSPs who debated the issue at the Scottish Parliament.
Nurseries in Dundee and Aberdeen were facing increases of around 50 per cent, while in Edinburgh, increases were as much as 70 per cent.
A campaigning group of parents also welcomed the recommendation, but argued a much more fundamental reform of the nursery system was required.
A spokeswoman for Fair Funding for Our Kids said: "We welcome any proposal that makes childcare more accessible and affordable, but working parents need full day places for their children and the vast majority of funded places are still offered on a half day basis."
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 here