Clubs Network (KCN) has found.
A report, The Next Steps for School-Age Childcare, published by KCN with HSBC Bank to coincide with this week's Kids' Clubs Week, showed that more than 7,000 clubs had been created in the past five years due in part to the first phase of funding from the New Opportunities Fund. KCN said it was now half-way to its goal of creating 20,000 clubs by 2010.
But although the number of new clubs increased by 17 per cent overall last year, 7 per cent of clubs had closed. KCN chief executive Anne Longfield said that 40 per cent of out-of-school clubs needed ongoing financial backing to sustain them and that the Government should increase funding over a long period to ensure their viability. But she estimated that the cost of running a club could be slashed by up to 20 per cent if it was sited in a school.
Ms Longfield welcomed the 76m pledged from the Sure Start programme to create 96,000 new out-of-school places, nearly half in disadvantaged areas. She said, 'Now that the Government is embracing childcare provision and sustainability as a priority from the highest level, we must ensure that investment continues to be matched with the ever-increasing demand from parents, to build on the success of the New Opportunities Fund and continue to deliver childcare from birth to teens, with childcare provision attached to or near all schools by 2010.'
KCN research conducted among parents and carers using clubs found that 43 per cent of parents said they were able to improve their employment prospects; 19 per cent were able to increase their working hours; 55 per cent were able to be more productive at work or in their studies; 35 per cent were able to earn more; and 85 per cent would have worked or studied less without the club.
The research also found that out-of-school clubs improved children's performance in the classroom, improved children's health and behaviour, and helped reduce crime.
