Research Report: Parents' Experiences of Services and Information in the Early Years

Authors Becky Gulc and Kay Silversides, Qa Research

Published by Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, March 2016

Summary

The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 parents by telephone in October 2015 about their experiences from pregnancy onwards. Almost three quarters of parents had taken part in some kind of antenatal class or received some form of antenatal support, in addition to routine midwife appointments, when expecting their first child. Working-class parents were significantly less likely to access antenatal classes than their middle-class peers. The survey found 37 per cent of working-class parents had not attended any form of antenatal class compared with 23 per cent of middle-class parents. Lone parents were also less likely to attend classes – 44 per cent of lone parents did not attend classes compared with 24 per cent of married or co-habiting parents. The main reason parents gave for not attending classes was they did not feel they needed to. Overall 40 per cent said they did not feel the need for classes while 27 per cent said they were either not offered an NHS class or the timing or location was inconvenient.