Councils failing to provide adequate holiday childcare

The continued lack of holiday childcare was exposed by the Daycare Trust's eighth holiday childcare costs survey, published today (15 July). According to the survey, only a third of English Family Information Service (FIS) teams said there was enough childcare in their area.

Thirty-eight per cent of FIS teams in England said parents had reported a lack of childcare, with similar complaints reflected by 75 per cent of Welsh FIS teams and 48 per cent of Childcare Information Services in Scotland.

The survey also identified clear gaps in provision for older children and disabled children in England, where only 20 per cent of local authorities indicated that they have sufficient childcare for either group.

Daycare Trust joint chief executive Alison Garnham said: "Affordable and high quality holiday childcare is crucial for parents especially in the current recession. Parents should not have to choose between giving up work or leaving their children unsupervised because they cannot find or afford holiday childcare."

The survey also shows that although the average weekly cost of holiday childcare has fallen slightly in England by one per cent since 2008 to £90.86, the typical cost of holiday childcare in 2009 varies between £62.70 a week and £116.53 a week.

Local authority provided childcare is, on the whole, much more affordable than private provision with an average weekly cost of £62.70 as opposed to £107.26.

The Daycare Trust based the results on a short survey sent to all FIS teams in England and Wales and Childcare Information Services in Scotland at the end of May 2009.