SCOTLAND'S First Minister has highlighted how a Yes vote will transform childcare.

During a visit to the soft play centre Time Twisters Indoor Activity Park in Sighthill, Edinburgh, Alex Salmond said independence offered the opportunity to save families almost £5000 a year on childcare for a one-year-old and more than £2000 for each two, three and four-year-old.

The SNP has committed to giving all three and four-year-olds, and vulnerable two-year-olds, 1140 hours of childcare a year by the end of the first Parliament in an independent Scotland.