Parent Poll Wave 15: Childcare Use and Childcare Entitlement Expansion

Expansion of childcare entitlements 2025 – awareness 

Since September 2024 (prior to the study fieldwork) eligible working parents with children aged 9 months up to 36 months had been entitled to 15 hours of funded childcare per week, 38 weeks a year.  From September 2025 (after the study fieldwork) this increased to 30 hours of funded childcare per week, 38 weeks a year (for children aged 9-36 months of eligible working parents).

At the time of the survey, awareness of the current (September 2024) entitlements was high (83% amongst parents with children aged 0-2) and was fairly consistent across different demographics. Parents in London had the lowest awareness at 71%, compared to over 80% in other regions of England.

Among parents who were aware of the funded childcare hours and had a child aged 9 months up to 36 months, half (50%) had applied for and received their eligibility code for this child and around one in ten had applied but not received the code yet (9%). Nearly all (97%) parents who had received and validated their code had accessed the funded childcare for their child. 

Despite being aware of the funded hours, a third of parents (36%) had not applied. The most common reasons for not applying were that they were not eligible (24%) or were unsure about their eligibility (13%). 13% used childcare that was not covered by the scheme and 8% said that they did not use childcare. 

September 2025 rollout

The majority of parents with a child aged 0-2 (69%) were aware of the change taking place from September 2025 increasing funded childcare hours to 30 hours per week, while just under a third were not aware of this before taking part in the survey (30%). As with awareness of the current entitlement, London families were less aware (57%) compared to those in other regions in England where awareness was at least 65%. Parents in the least deprived quintile of areas were more likely to be aware of this (78%) than parents in the most deprived quintile (65%) and parents of white children had higher awareness (74%) compared to parents of ethnic minority children (57%). 

Around three quarters (74%) of parents who were aware of the change, and had children of an eligible age, thought they would be eligible to access this support for their child.

Of those who were aware of the changes and had children aged 9 – 36 months (and so were eligible for the funded hours rolled out in September 2024), 38% said that they were currently using funded childcare. Three-quarters (75%) of these parents (currently using funded childcare and aware of the changes from September 2025) intended to increase the number of funded hours that their child spends in childcare, while 17% did not plan to change the number of funded hours for their child. 

More than half of parents (56%) who were aware of the additional funded childcare hours available from September 2025 but were not currently using any hours of funded childcare, planned to take advantage of the new hours. 

Nearly half of parents (47%) who were thinking of taking up the funded childcare from Sept 2025, or knew they would be changing the number of funded hours used, were planning to use the full 30 hours.

Among parents who intended to increase their funded hours or start using funded hours, the middle of the week was most popular for these (extra) hours. Wednesday was the top choice, with over half (64%) of parents indicating a need for childcare on this day, followed closely by Thursday (62%) and Tuesday (60%). Monday (57%) and Friday (52%) were less popular. Regarding time of day, over half (59%) of parents preferred full-day childcare, while 23% opted for a mix of full and half days. If parents’ preferred days and/or times are not available, a majority of parents (72%) said they would consider alternative days and times.

In the absence of the new childcare entitlement (from September 2025), 85% of those who were planning to increase the number of funded hours would still use formal childcare for their child – 55% would use the same amount, 30% would use fewer hours.

Childcare use

Most (70%) parents reported using formal childcare providers for their child aged 0-4 – which includes nursery or pre-schools, reception classes, childminders, nannies and au pairs, babysitters and weekend childcare provision.  The most frequently used formal childcare was a nursery or pre-school, with more than half (54%) of all parents using these settings. Fewer than one in ten (7%) used a childminder, and 5% had a nanny or au pair. 

Over two fifths (44%) of parents used some form of informal childcare, most commonly a grandparent living outside the household (33%). 

A fifth (19%) of parents reported not using any form of childcare for their child.

When asked their reasons for using formal childcare, the most common responses were that: they were working (53%) and/or their partner was (37%), their child was eligible for funded childcare (48%), wanting their child to interact with other children (36%), and for the child to continue or start their education (25%). Conversely, for those parents not using formal childcare, the most common reasons included the parent not currently working (25%), not needing formal childcare due to one parent being on parental leave (18%), and a general preference against using formal childcare (16%).

Perceptions of school based nursery classes

When parents of children who had ever attended, or had considered attending, a nursery class attached to a primary/infant school were asked about the benefits of this type of childcare, the most common was that it would prepare their child for school (59%), followed by the quality of education (49%), the quality of care (45%), accessibility of the location (43%) and the quality of the facilities (41%). Over a third of parents also mentioned the benefits of activities that meet their child’s individual interests (37%), the ease of dropping multiple children in one location (37%) and opening hours (31%). 

Parents whose first choice of formal childcare wasn’t a nursery attached to a primary/infant school saw the opening hours as being the biggest disadvantage of this form of formal childcare (44%). This was followed by the accessibility of location (34%), the availability of provision outside of term time (31%) and the quality of the facilities (27%). 

Childcare costs and additional charges

Around two thirds (67%) of parents using a nursery or pre-school currently pay for up to 15 hours of childcare a week, while a third (33%) pay for 16 or more hours of childcare per week. 

Just over a quarter (27%) of all parents identified the cost of childcare as the primary barrier to accessing their preferred childcare options, which was the most commonly mentioned barrier. This was more often mentioned by parents living in the least deprived areas (36% of parents in the least deprived quintile mentioned cost as a barrier compared with 24% in the most deprived quintile). It was also more of an issue for part-time workers (32%) than for those working full-time (26%) or not working (24%). 

Nearly three quarters of parents (72%) with children who attend formal childcare said that they had to pay for extras often (29%), sometimes (31%) or rarely (11%). These extra charges most commonly covered meals/drinks (50%), snacks (50%), other consumables (e.g. nappies, sun cream) (34%) and one-off activities such as special outings (31%).

 Over half of parents (56%) found the additional charges very or fairly easy to pay, while a fifth (21%) of parents found them difficult to pay. Parents with an income of less than £30,000 per year were more likely to find these charges difficult to pay than those with a higher income (36% compared with 17%). Of those who said that these charges were not easy to pay, 12% said that they were actually unable to pay them.  

Technical note:

Fieldwork was conducted between 2nd May and 10th June 2025. Data was weighted to match the population profile of parents of children aged 0-4 in England by region and social grade. Where questions are the same between waves, comparisons can be made to give an idea of overall trends. However, caution is needed as there may be slight differences in the blend of panels used year on year which can impact comparability.