Plans to review after-school care provision across South Lanarkshire are now underway as councillors have been given a clear timeline.

Elected members on the Executive Committee meeting of April 1 were provided with a report that confirmed that work has already begun on a wide-ranging study into the availability and accessibility of after-school services, following a motion agreed at a full council meeting in March.

The report acknowledged the key role after-school care can play in supporting families, improving outcomes for children and helping build stronger communities. The review will examine what services currently exist across the area and identify any gaps or challenges in provision.

Council officials will look at a range of issues, including the mix of providers operating locally, the support available to parents and carers and the barriers some families face in accessing childcare. Particular attention will be given to the experiences of one-parent families, as well as the role of childminders within the wider childcare landscape.

Engagement with parents, young people, service providers and employability organisations is set to begin this week and continue through the summer, with the aim of gathering first-hand insight into how after-school care is used and where improvements could be made.

The review will also explore how childcare provision links to wider efforts to tackle inequality, including work already being carried out by the council under its Marmot Place programme. Opportunities to support new services such as Community Wealth Building will also be considered.

A working group has been established to carry out the initial phase of research, including analysing existing provision, reviewing national research and comparing services with those in other local authority areas. That phase is expected to run until the end of September.

Councillor Katy Loudon (Cambuslang East), who was involved with the initial plans, asked if there has been any progress with consultations.

She said: “Thank you for the report, it’s good to see that it’s came through so quickly as you might remember it was myself and councillor Johnson-Dempsey that put forward the amendment and I’m really pleased to see that these points are reflected in the report.

“It’s good to see employability partners being engaged, we wanted to have an overview of the research and an understanding of where childminders are with this. We wanted to see a link in with the Marmot Place work that the council is undertaking and we wanted to see engagement with young people as well.

“And I see that there’s quite a chunky time frame planned for that last point from April to August for that to take place. I know this is just an initial report and the working group will go and take this forward now coming to us later in the year. I just wondered if we have got any idea yet of how that consultation with young people will take place. Are there any further details?”

Council officials stated that it has only just been set up so plans are being considered at the moment.

An initial findings report is due to be presented to councillors in late October, setting out the current picture of after-school care in South Lanarkshire and outlining possible next steps.

The work will be carried out using existing staff and will not have any immediate financial implications, with any future decisions likely to be taken once the findings have been reviewed.