Nursery World - Poor families lose out on childcare

Richer families are taking up a disproportionate number of registered childcare places compared to families on low or moderate incomes, according to a report for the Department for Work and Pensions (DfWP). The report, Families and children 2001: Work and childcare, by the Policy Studies Institute and published by the DfWP at the end of last month, said that childcare arrangements differed according to a family's socio-economic status, with families on higher incomes much more likely than those on low incomes to use formal childcare for their children, whether lone parents or couples.

The report, Families and children 2001: Work and childcare, by the Policy Studies Institute and published by the DfWP at the end of last month, said that childcare arrangements differed according to a family's socio-economic status, with families on higher incomes much more likely than those on low incomes to use formal childcare for their children, whether lone parents or couples.

It found that 57 per cent of pre-school children and 12 per cent of school-age children whose parents worked in managerial or professional-type jobs were in formal provision, compared with 22 per cent and 3 per cent respectively of those children whose parents had manual jobs.

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