Early years: Beyond the baby boom

When your back is against the wall you somehow have to find childcare, says mother of one Sarah Cook.

She struggled to find a place for her son, Joshua, in a nursery near her home in Ealing, west London, and in the end simply gave up.

"I did look into childcare and found that most nurseries were booked up. One had a waiting list of two years," she says. "Also, to book a place for 'baby' when you are pregnant you had to pay a non-refundable deposit, so if you change your mind or a nursery closer to home becomes available you could end up losing a fair amount."

Sarah ended up enrolling her son into her work nursery when she was just three months' pregnant, but is still waiting for a place 18 months later. Until then she is relying on parents and friends to look after him while she works full time.

Full nurseries

Nearly 70 per cent of mothers work, up from just 58 per cent in 1992, and the highest level since records began. And the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the fertility level in the UK is at its highest level since 1973 - with an average of 1.95 children born to each woman.

The implications for children's services could be huge. A survey published last year by the Royal College of Midwives found midwives are struggling to keep pace with the birthrate; 38 per cent said the quality of care has been negatively affected by the baby boom.

And government figures released in May showed that rising birth rates have meant the number of primary school children being taught in classes of more than 30 pupils has more than doubled to 10,010 this year, from 4,280 two years ago.

The effect on the early years sector is perhaps less clear cut, as a rising birth rate does not necessarily lead to a rise in demand for childcare places. But clearly demand for both nurseries and childminders is steadily increasing, according to professional bodies National Day Nurseries Association and the National Childminding Association.

Bright Horizons is the second-largest nursery chain in the UK. It has experienced a growth in demand over the past year and is continuing with expansion plans.

Managing director Stephen Kramer says there are reasons for the increased demand, including more babies being born but also economic factors, such as people being forced to take jobs that move them away from their family network, or women returning to work earlier after having children so that they can help family finances.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, says the increasing birth rate has big implications that nurseries and local authorities need to address.

"A higher birth rate ultimately means a greater demand on services, such as the free early years entitlement for three- and four-year-olds," she says. "It is vital that national government looks at this when planning spending and funding levels. And it is especially important that local authorities use local birth rate trends as part of their sufficiency assessments to ensure they can meet their duties under the Childcare Act."

Fertility rate

In Lincolnshire, the birth rate shot up 6.5 per cent in 2007/08 - almost twice the national average of 3.3 per cent - and now stands at 2.07 children per woman. The town of Boston boasts the highest fertility rate in the UK; women there can expect 2.81 children in a lifetime.

With birth rates projected to continue rising, there is ever increasing demand for childcare and school places, says Lincolnshire's assistant director of children's services, Debbie Barnes, though its latest childcare sufficiency assessment does suggest that it is managing to meet requirements.

"We are putting a range of measures in place, including start-up grants and sufficiency grants to encourage the expansion of childcare," explains Barnes. "And we are looking at our primary school stock to see what expansion is needed. With childcare, you have less time to put new measures into place than with primary schools, but there is less infrastructure needed."

Where possible, the council is also placing pre-school provision in primary schools to reduce overheads. "As a rural county, Lincolnshire has traditionally had a mixed economy in terms of childcare provision, and by and large providers work well with us in terms of meeting demand," says Barnes. "The challenge now is sustainability."

Meanwhile, councils in London last month reported an urgent shortage of primary school places due to the surge in birth rates in the capital. Some schools have already provided temporary buildings and expanded class sizes. The west London borough of Ealing has seen a significant growth in the birth rate - the numbers entering reception class have risen from 4,400 to 5,500 a year over the past six years. "We're in uncharted territory," admits councillor Ian Gibb, cabinet member for children's services. "Our projections keep having to be redone, but we hope this year is the peak year. We are now talking about putting permanent solutions in place."

A further 210 reception-year places will be created in eight of the borough's schools, with one also doubling the size of its nursery. The council's latest childcare sufficiency assessment indicates that there are vacancies throughout the borough but Gibb says that they may not be in the location parents want.

"There is pressure in certain areas for nursery places, and maybe some of the nursery places available are not right on parents' doorsteps, but there is capacity there," he says.

The council anticipates that a further 128 childcare places will become available at 23 children's centres in the borough. Based largely in deprived areas, the council is working with children's centres to help meet the demand.

"With the increase in the birth rate, we will be looking at the demand for places in the voluntary and private sector and looking at what we need to provide," says Gibb.

And the demand is there. As one member of staff at South Acton Children's Centre says: "Basically, if you're pregnant, put your name on the waiting list. I'm a parent myself and that's what I did."

It's a view shared by Nicola Pond, who lives in Ealing with her 13-month-old daughter, Amy. "It's stressful enough worrying about going back to work and who's going to look after your baby, but then you realise that all the best nurseries get full really quickly."

She adds: "Lots of mums I know put their names down practically the minute they found out they were pregnant, and it does make you panic."

For Emma Knights, joint chief executive of the Daycare Trust, quality and affordability remain the biggest issues.

"There may be places out there, but it's about matching families with the places," she says. "Parents need help finding quality childcare - and sometimes it's difficult for them to know what that is."

Suitable childcare

Knights urges the government to make sure Family Information Services (FIS) are properly resourced so they can help parents find what vacancies there are.

"We want to see FIS able to carry out that role of broker - basically, helping parents find suitable childcare," she says. "At the moment, not all of them are able to do that in the way they would want to."

While the rising birth rate may help make early years settings more sustainable, Knights worries that it could pose a problem for parents.

"Baby numbers are rising, and if the birth rate continues to go up, it may well become harder again to find good places," she says.

As it is, Siobhan Freegard, founder of the online parenting support network Netmums, is concerned that parents are already being forced to turn to more informal, and possibly sub-standard, childcare.

Others, she says, are being put off by high childcare costs and are not returning to work at all.

"Availability of childcare can depend on where you live," says Freegard. "But the one thing I hear all the time from throughout the country is that there is not enough good, affordable childcare."

Little Acorns nursery, Ealing: "I was amazed how quickly the baby room filled up."

Within three weeks of opening in January 2009, Little Acorns, an independent day nursery in the west London borough of Ealing, had a year-long waiting list.

It has since started to offer more places but the waiting list for a full-time place is still around six months. "I am amazed how quickly the baby room filled up," says owner and manager Teresa Stear. "It only took three weeks to fill 18 places."

Positive about support

The nursery now offers 37 places for under-twos and 40 places for over-twos. Stear is positive about the support she has received from Ealing Council, which she says is very proactive and funds a lot of training, although there was no help available for either setting up or expanding the nursery.

Unlike many nurseries, mums-to-be can't register when they're pregnant, but have to wait until the baby is born, as Stear says it "doesn't feel right" and would be "tempting fate" to do otherwise.

Stear, who has managed nurseries in Ealing for 22 years, has seen a lot of changes since she started. "I have definitely seen the baby boom reflected in day nurseries," she says. "And I have seen the problems parents have getting places. Government nurseries offer half-day places, but it's only private nurseries that offer full daycare, at least when children first join."

Working families

A working mum herself, Stear says nurseries need to be geared around working families like never before, and says her aim is for parents to go to work knowing their children are "safe, happy and looked-after".

Located within walking distance of an underground station, the nursery is in a prime spot for commuters and, along with modern facilities, aims to support working families in the community by offering additional services such as baby signing and post-natal support groups.

Despite demand for expansion, Stear is reluctant to get any bigger. "Bigger nurseries can lose that personal touch - it becomes all about making money and you lose the quality of care."