Nursery World - Around a third of parents used formal childcare in April

Children’s minister Vicky Ford has thanked early years professionals for their ‘continued dedication’ in helping critical workers and parents of vulnerable children to access childcare during the pandemic, as official statistics reveal the take-up of childcare during lockdown.

Vicky Ford, children and families minister

Her thanks come as the Department for Education released findings that two-thirds (68 per cent) of parents classed as critical workers during the pandemic felt that the childcare hours available to them last month enabled them to do their job.

The survey of 1,000 parents of children aged from birth to four in England, conducted by Ipsos MORI, found that around a third (36 per cent) of children with parents that are critical workers, or who are vulnerable, used formal childcare in April. Almost three-quarters of parents (73 per cent) who continued to use childcare were able to use the same childcare provider as before the pandemic, providing their children with stability.

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