Nursery World - Nursery is preferred care, research finds

Day nurseries are the preferred form of childcare for working parents when care by a relative is not available, according to research findings revealed during Parents' Week. Jigsaw Day Nurseries commissioned the study after a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Pivot Generation: Informal care and work after fifty, found that fewer grandparents were available to care for grandchildren (see page 25).

Jigsaw Day Nurseries commissioned the study after a report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, The Pivot Generation: Informal care and work after fifty, found that fewer grandparents were available to care for grandchildren (see page 25).

The number of working mothers with children aged under five years old continues to grow, having doubled in the past 20 years from 29 per cent to 58 per cent. The nursery chain found that the majority of parents (92 per cent) requiring formal childcare look at nurseries, while 52 per cent also consider childminders and 20 per cent investigate employing a nanny.

Parents who chose nursery provision over other forms of childcare said that they believed their child would be safer, have more social interaction and have greater opportunities to learn and develop essential skills.

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