Many parents find the long school summer holiday is the hardest time of year to organise childcare. While out-of-school clubs are available after school during term time, there is much less provision during school holidays. 4Children's research has found that there is only one summer holiday childcare place for every 15 children, with just 450,000 places in holiday clubs or with childminders available to the 6.8 million children aged between four and 14.
The shortage of affordable holiday childcare places presents particular challenges for single working parents and for families where both parents work. One quarter of families rely on family and friends to look after their children while they are working: research shows that grandparents in particular are playing an increasingly important role. But nearly two million children must rely on their parents finding ways of managing through a patchwork of annual leave, shift parenting and unpaid leave to fill in the childcare gap.
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