According to The Scottish Household Survey 2025 83% of Scottish households with pre-school children use some form of childcare, however, access and flexibility remain significant hurdles for many families.
Despite the survey revealing high satisfaction rates with funded childcare, families consistently report that provision doesn’t match their real-world needs. The most common complaint is not enough funded hours, cited by 13% of households. 9% struggle with lack of flexibility in days and times—a critical issue for shift workers, healthcare professionals, and hospitality workers whose working patterns rarely align with traditional nursery hours.
When childcare operates on a 9-to-5 schedule but your shift starts at early or ends late, even excellent provision becomes unusable.
Perhaps most troubling is how childcare access divides along economic lines. Families in affluent areas have genuine choice—they can access both local authority nurseries (21%) and private nurseries (57%). In deprived areas, private nurseries are unaffordable, so families depend almost entirely on local authority provision (51%).
This matters because if local authority hours don’t match your work schedule, wealthier families can pay for private alternatives. Families in deprived areas have no backup option—if the hours don’t work, they’re stuck choosing between their job and their children!
While 63% of households report all their childcare is funded, 16% still find costs difficult or very difficult to manage. For these families, expenses associated with wraparound care or additional hours can determine whether a parent can continue working.
The survey data points to a clear conclusion: Scotland has made progress in expanding childcare provision, but the system still isn’t working for everyone. Families need more than just availability—they need affordability, wraparound options that match the reality of modern working life and crucially flexibility!
Until childcare providers can accommodate shift workers, offer sufficient hours for full-time employees, and provide equal access regardless of postcode or income, many Scottish parents will continue to face an impossible choice between their careers and their children.
