Published: Wednesday, 3rd February, 2010 12:00pm

Parents not mooved by nursery fund 'crumbs'

by Julie Gilbert

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PROTEST: Parents and children outside Clydebank Town Hall

A HASTILY arranged £50,000 emergency fund was set up for cash-strapped working parents in Thursday's budget after the angry backlash over increased child care fees.

But the means tested fund has been described as "a crumb when a loaf is needed".

As of Monday, charges for council run nurseries and out-of-school care schemes, were increased with some parents facing increases of more than 100 per cent.

Ahead of the hike, on Wednesday night, a group of parents calling themselves the Nursery Action Group (NAG) staged a protest outside Clydebank Town Hall where a meeting of the full council was being held.

They wanted to convince councillors of the impact of the rise - which some parents say will force them to give up work.

They dressed their children as "cash cows" and branded them with slogans such as 'please stop milking me!', while one little boy was dressed as Thomas the Tank Engine bearing the slogan 'I'm not a gravy train'.

However, there was frustration when the matter could not be discussed at the meeting for procedural reasons.

The following day (Thursday) when the councillors reconvened for the special budget meeting, the £50,000 emergency fund was announced.

But mum Karen Anne Bradley, chairwoman of the NAG, branded the fund as "garbage".

Councillor May Smillie, SNP convenor of Education, has defended the £50,000 fund.

She said: "We have listened to those views and created a fund that will allow those people in financial hardship to get assistance."