Childcare use, perceived impact on child development, information on working from home, and awareness and use of free entitlements for families of 0-4 year-olds during COVID-19
Childcare use
A survey by Ipsos in November 2021 found that more than nine in ten (92%) parents whose child used formal childcare before COVID-19 reported that their child was using formal childcare at the time of the interview. Almost 4 in 10 (38%) of parents surveyed use a nursery or pre-school as their formal childcare provider.
When comparing formal childcare use with the previous term (April to July 2021), 93% of children using formal childcare in the previous term were using formal childcare in November 2021, and just 5% were using no childcare at all (neither formal nor informal childcare).
Among parents whose child was receiving formal childcare in November 2021, 60% said they would use more hours of formal childcare for their child each week if these hours were available.
Among parents whose child was not receiving formal childcare in November 2021, the most common reasons were that the parent never uses formal childcare (28%), that childcare was not needed as the parent(s) was on maternity or paternity leave (21%), and that the childcare available was too expensive (19%). Only 2% of parents whose child was not receiving formal childcare said they would like to use formal childcare but have not been able to find a suitable provider. This represents less than 1% of all parents surveyed.
Parents whose child was not using formal childcare in November 2021 were asked what would encourage them to use formal childcare over the coming months. Parents most commonly cited childcare at a reduced or no cost (31%). Other lesser cited reasons included if the participant or their partner needed to leave the house to work (9%), more flexibility from the participant’s employer regarding working patterns and hours (9%) and further lifting of coronavirus restrictions (8%).
Currently, among all parents, around one-third (34%) reported that they have problems finding formal childcare for their child that is flexible enough to fit their needs.
Around three quarters (74%) of parents whose child used informal childcare before COVID-19 reported that their child was still using informal childcare in November 2021.
Impact on child development
More than half (56%) of parents whose child used formal childcare before COVID-19 reported that the overall disruption to schools and childcare settings since March 2020 had harmed their child’s social and educational development.
Use of free entitlements
Of those parents whose child was receiving formal childcare, just over one quarter (27%) used Tax Free Childcare. Fewer (15%) used the childcare element of Universal Credit while just over 1 in 10 (13%) were still using the childcare vouchers scheme.
Of those whose child was receiving formal childcare and are aged 2 to 4, 63% received some free hours of childcare. Of these parents who receive some free hours of childcare and whose child is aged 3 to 4, 57% received all of their free hours under the 15 free hours scheme, while the remainder (42%) also received free hours under the 30 free hours scheme.
Additional charges from childcare providers
Two thirds (66%) of parents who had a child attending a formal provider in November 2021 reported having to pay charges for certain extras (such as meals, nappies, creams or outings) from their provider. Three in 10 (29%) reported having to pay these extra charges ‘often’, with a further quarter (24%) paying these charges ‘sometimes’. Over two in ten (22%) of these parents found it difficult to afford these extra charges based on their family income.
Technical note
Ipsos conducted interviews online with a representative sample of 1,000 parents of children aged 0-4 in England in November 2021. Interviews were conducted between 08 and 30 November 2021. Data are weighted to match the population profile of parents of children aged 0-4 in England by region, social grade, and the age of the selected child (i.e., the randomly selected child aged 0-4 about whom child-level questions were asked). Data between waves are not directly comparable due to changes made to the questionnaire.
