Daycare Trust research has found that parents’ inability to pay for childcare is now the biggest sustainability issue for childcare providers.
Our survey of more than 400 members of the London Childcare Providers Network, which includes nurseries, childminders and out-of-school clubs, found that this was their top issue for the first time ever, above workforce issues and Ofsted inspections.
Nearly half (46 per cent) of providers said they had experienced lower demand for places and many described how fee arrears had increased.
These findings show how important it is that the childcare sector fully understands the changes that the Government is making to the support that parents can receive for childcare costs from 2013.
These reforms come on top of a change in April of this year which cut the amount of childcare support available through tax credits from a maximum of 80 per cent to 70 per cent. This reduced funding for childcare by £270m in 2011/12, rising to £385m per year by 2014/15.
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