Our mothers would have been green with envy; out-of-school childcare is now a must for many working parents. Kids' Clubs Network, the national charity for school-aged childcare, reckons there are now 7,000 such schemes across the UK. Nursery chains, it seems, are increasingly adding out-of-hours care to their services to drive their business forward.
The increase in lone parents and more mothers in paid employment are the obvious factors fuelling demand. Both have been shored up by a two-pronged Government policy which is encouraging mothers in particular back to work and increasing funding for childcare to support it.
Most after-school clubs run until 6pm and will pick up children from schools. Daily charges range from 4-7, rising to 40-50 a week during holidays.
More than 50 per cent of all major chains are now into out-of-hours provision in a big way. But if demand is so great, why isn't it universal?
'The costs of setting up and doing it properly, all year round, can be prohibitive,' says Sarah Carr, director of Kindercare which runs ten childcare centres in Lancashire and has been providing out-of-hours care for 12 years.
'Within 18 months of opening our first nursery, we realised just caring for two- to three-year-olds wasn't addressing parents' full needs,' she adds. 'But we also believed that having dedicated space for out-of-hours provision was a must. School-age children don't want to feel they're coming to nursery, neither do they want to be in the same building they've just spent all day in.'
This, together with being willing to provide a pick-up service from different schools and equipping the centres, means initial costs can be huge. 'You have to be prepared to stand the cost for the first 12 months,' says Sarah. 'But once word gets round and parents know they are getting good quality childcare and the children are happy, it builds up and more than pays for itself.'
Increased funding for schools to set up their own clubs could hold back sector growth by private providers, but, says Sarah, 'I do feel we can offer something over and above. It's not just after-school, it's holidays and things like school inset days, which can provide working parents with a real headache, so the demand is certainly there.'
Out-of-hours provision now accounts for around 25 per cent of Kindercare's business. 'We have a fleet of 30 shuttle buses and cater for upwards of 400 families from each of our centres.'
But it's not just the established nursery chains tapping into demand. Those with a keen eye on the market and an entrepreneurial streak have spotted that out-of-hours care is a business in its own right. Karyn Maddison did it the other way round - and has just picked up an 'Employer of the Year Award' from the Department of Trade and Industry for her trouble.
'I was working in the finance industry in the mid-1990s and colleagues kept saying "my children start school in September and I don't have childcare",' says Karyn. 'They said nurseries in the area didn't pick-up after-school, so I thought - now there's an idea!'
She set up an after-school club in 1995 and now runs 13 out-of-hours and holiday clubs across the West Midlands, under the 'Sneakers' banner. A nursery was added to the business in 1997, but, says Karyn, 'My heart is in my after-school care and it will remain the mainstay of my business. You're an important part of the child's day and they have a lot to tell you about when you pick them up, so you develop lovely relationships.'
Karyn expanded by operating Sneakers from schools and community centres. One of the main headaches she found in setting up was recruiting and retaining quality staff who want to work outside school hours. This is obviously something she has managed with full honours, given that her DTI Award was for 'employers who help employees balance work and home life'.
'There's a big future for this provision,' she says, 'but it's not a case of easy money, it's hard work - just organising your collections can be tricky. It's also important to do your market research. Not everywhere has a sustainable level of demand and there may be other local providers already answering it.'
