Parents increase children's hours as a result of free early education places
Katy Morton
Friday, February 1, 2013
An increase in the take-up of free nursery education for three and four-year-olds has driven up the average number of hours children spend in daycare per week, research carried out by for the Department for Education has found.
The most recent statistics from the Department for Education’s ‘Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents 2011’ shows that children spent on average nine hours per week in childcare, a significant rise from 8.3 hours in 2010.
It is thought that the increase in hours was driven primarily by an increase in the amount of time children aged three and four spent in childcare, with 88 per cent of parents reporting taking up the offer of free early education, in comparison to 85 per cent in 2010.
The take-up of the free entitlement was highest among families where both parents were working, families with higher incomes and those from white British backgrounds.
Most parents (46 per cent) reported using their free hours over five days a week, with just over a quarter using their hours over three days, similar to 2010.
The survey of just over 6,350 parents with children under the age of 15 indicates that in 2011 around six million children in total, across 4.2 million families, used some form of childcare, with around 4.5 million children in formal provision and 2.7 million in informal provision.
Geographically take-up of both formal and informal childcare was lowest in London. The South-West had the highest take-up of formal childcare and the North-West the highest take-up of informal childcare.
On average, parents of children under the age of two and between 12 and 14 were most likely to use informal childcare. The number of families who used informal childcare for their school-aged children during the holidays rose significantly from 30 per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2011.
Overall, two thirds (63 per cent) of families stated that childcare needed to be improved in the summer holidays.
The majority (44 per cent) of parents felt that the number of local childcare places was ‘about right’, with only 20 per cent having encountered problems finding childcare that was flexible enough to fit their needs. Parents living in London were more likely to have had problems finding sufficiently flexible childcare.
Of those with disabled children, less than half (41 per cent) thought that local childcare providers could cater for their child’s illness or disability.
While thirty-five per cent of all parents surveyed rated the affordability of local childcare as good, the proportion rating this as ‘very poor’ rose from 13 per cent in 2010 to 16 per cent in 2011.
However, the survey did show that the number of parents who thought it was difficult or very difficult to pay for childcare (26 per cent) did not change from 2010. Just over half thought it was easy or very easy to pay.
Commenting on the findings, Elizabeth Truss, Education and Childcare Minister, said, ‘This survey confirms that too many parents are dissatisfied with childcare. It is right that our reforms to childcare offer parents a greater choice of high quality early education.’
She added, ‘We will announce an offer for working parents in due course.’
Jill Rutter, research manager for the Family and Parenting Institute and the Daycare Trust, said, ‘Data from the annual Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents highlights the lack of flexible childcare, particularly for school age children.
‘These statistics provide evidence for the need of greater flexibility in childcare provision, an issue raised by the Education and Childcare Minister in her speech to Policy Exchange on 29 January.’
It is thought that the increase in hours was driven primarily by an increase in the amount of time children aged three and four spent in childcare, with 88 per cent of parents reporting taking up the offer of free early education, in comparison to 85 per cent in 2010.
The take-up of the free entitlement was highest among families where both parents were working, families with higher incomes and those from white British backgrounds.
Most parents (46 per cent) reported using their free hours over five days a week, with just over a quarter using their hours over three days, similar to 2010.
The survey of just over 6,350 parents with children under the age of 15 indicates that in 2011 around six million children in total, across 4.2 million families, used some form of childcare, with around 4.5 million children in formal provision and 2.7 million in informal provision.
Geographically take-up of both formal and informal childcare was lowest in London. The South-West had the highest take-up of formal childcare and the North-West the highest take-up of informal childcare.
On average, parents of children under the age of two and between 12 and 14 were most likely to use informal childcare. The number of families who used informal childcare for their school-aged children during the holidays rose significantly from 30 per cent in 2010 to 35 per cent in 2011.
Overall, two thirds (63 per cent) of families stated that childcare needed to be improved in the summer holidays.
The majority (44 per cent) of parents felt that the number of local childcare places was ‘about right’, with only 20 per cent having encountered problems finding childcare that was flexible enough to fit their needs. Parents living in London were more likely to have had problems finding sufficiently flexible childcare.
Of those with disabled children, less than half (41 per cent) thought that local childcare providers could cater for their child’s illness or disability.
While thirty-five per cent of all parents surveyed rated the affordability of local childcare as good, the proportion rating this as ‘very poor’ rose from 13 per cent in 2010 to 16 per cent in 2011.
However, the survey did show that the number of parents who thought it was difficult or very difficult to pay for childcare (26 per cent) did not change from 2010. Just over half thought it was easy or very easy to pay.
Commenting on the findings, Elizabeth Truss, Education and Childcare Minister, said, ‘This survey confirms that too many parents are dissatisfied with childcare. It is right that our reforms to childcare offer parents a greater choice of high quality early education.’
She added, ‘We will announce an offer for working parents in due course.’
Jill Rutter, research manager for the Family and Parenting Institute and the Daycare Trust, said, ‘Data from the annual Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents highlights the lack of flexible childcare, particularly for school age children.
‘These statistics provide evidence for the need of greater flexibility in childcare provision, an issue raised by the Education and Childcare Minister in her speech to Policy Exchange on 29 January.’
