PARENTS choosing to delay sending their children to primary school could mean more nurseries need to be built in East Renfrewshire.

Requests for deferrals has increased for a fifth consecutive year and an upcoming law change will guarantee funded early learning for all families who decide to wait.

The “transformational” policy will be a “huge challenge” in East Renfrewshire, a council officer said.

Currently, all children who are four at the start of the school year can defer until the following year, but only children born in January or February automatically receive another year of funded childcare.

The Scottish Government has committed to funded childcare for all children who defer their P1 start date and is working to implement the change.

From August 2023, all requests for deferral will be granted. This could see “as many as 300 new applications” for early learning and childcare each year, a council report states.

In January this year, 134 families applied online for a deferral, with 126 granted an extra year of funded early learning. Six withdrew their request.

Councillor Caroline Bamforth asked whether the change would mean more nurseries were needed.

A council officer said: “It would mean new buildings. We keep a close eye on it and based on the last three years, we’re talking about three buildings, 50 plus staff.

“That is just practitioners, that is not including janitorial, cleaning, facilities management – and then there’s the question of land and where we’d actually build.

“It’s a huge challenge for us moving forward.”

She added the Scottish Government is carrying out pilot schemes in five council areas and any concerns are being shared in a

working group.

“They are fully aware that this is another transformational agenda,” the officer said.

“It’s not going to be an easy fix, certainly not in East Renfrewshire.”

The officer also said requests for deferral are tending to come from East Renfrewshire’s most affluent areas. That’s part of the information we’re feeding back to the working group, because there is a potential of widening the poverty-related attainment gap with this policy,” she added.

“Those who are taking up that right tend to be from our most affluent families.

“That’s more of a concern, we need to make sure there is a lot of learning in the two years of

the pilot.”