Nursery fees in Scotland are increasing-

at almost double the rate of those in England, and rising at more than five times the rate of those in Wales, according to a survey published today by Daycare Trust and Children in Scotland.

A typical full-time nursery place for a child under two is £146 a week - still lower than the cost in England (£152), but rising very fast. This compares to average UK earnings of £447 a week last year. The costs have increased from £132 last year, a rise of ten per cent. The cost increases in England and Wales were six per cent and two per cent respectively.

Bronwen Cohen, chief executive of Children in Scotland, said: "If we get them right, early years services have a huge role to play in contributing to the wellbeing of the child and developing healthy lifestyles alongside the care required by parents. The survey results underline the need to integrate pre-school education with childcare, and ensure that all young children have access to full-day provision when required in neighbourhood services. This would build better community cohesion, support more secure childhoods and move Scotland and the UK up the rankings of child well-being in advanced nations." *

Alison Garnham, joint-chief executive of Daycare Trust, said, "With typical childcare costs rising by ten per cent to around a third of average earnings, parents cannot afford to bear the burden of increasing childcare costs alone. Despite significant government investment in early years and childcare, funding needs to be further improved so that all children have access to high quality, affordable and accessible childcare."

Irene Audain, chief executive of the Scottish Out of School Care Network, added: "Increased, long term and stable funding investment in all services for children and young people is needed, especially to address serious gaps in provision for children and young people with disabilities and to support parents in caring for their children, whether they are working or not. We need to invest in children in terms of their rights to care, play, learning and leisure activities, which enrich their lives and are affordable and accessible to all."

The survey also indicated that finding suitable childcare is even more difficult for parents of disabled children. Many children's information services were unsure of additional costs for disabled children as these are established on a case-by-case basis according to need. Twenty-five per cent of respondents said that there was not enough provision in their area for disabled children and 45 per cent were unsure whether there was enough provision.

Help with childcare costs is available through the tax credit system, and many parents can now also get tax relief through their employer, via childcare vouchers. Three and four year olds are entitled to 12.5 hours of free nursery education a week. However, parents in the UK pay around 70 per cent of the cost of childcare, compared with European parents who pay around 30 per cent of their childcare costs.

Bronwen Cohen added: "In Scotland in 2007 we should not still be in the position where access to services for young children is determined by their parents' employment status and income."

"There is a widespread recognition among Scotland's political parties that much more needs to be done to develop better services for young children. This is likely to be a key issue in the upcoming Scottish election."

Daycare Trust and Children in Scotland are calling on the government to invest in high quality early education and childcare services by:

* Investing more in supply side funding and eventually phasing out the reliance on tax credits to pay for childcare costs

* Ensuring that local authorities have adequate funding to develop services which meet the needs of all families

* Addressing the concerns raised by the recent OECD Starting Strong II report * over the failure to integrate education and childcare - conceptually and in practice - in the UK