Report exposes two-tier childcare
Cathy Wallace
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
There are two distinct childcare markets in England: one for more affluent areas and one for more deprived areas, a major report published today (10 October) by the Daycare Trust has found.
Childcare Nation? Progress on the Childcare Strategy and Priorities for the Future, the first study to pull together all available research on the issue since 1997, says there are two different markets catering for different types of area. More affluent areas tend to be served by private childcare providers, which are increasingly in the hands of large corporate chains.
Deprived areas are more reliant on government intervention and initiatives such as the Neighbourhood Nurseries Initiative and children's centres.
"Particular concerns remain about the viability of provision in the most deprived areas, once the start-up funding provided by the government runs out," the report states. Garnham added: "The gap between these two separate markets needs to be narrowed and there needs to be thorough thinking about how to make provision sustainable in the most deprived areas."
The report also warns that a high proportion of the childcare workforce does not yet meet minimum Ofsted requirements.
More investment is needed to improve qualifications, while Pay and status for staff needs to be improved to reflect an increasingly qualified workforce, the authors argue.
The study shows 87 per cent of households contain someone who works antisocial hours such as before 8am, after 6pm and at weekends, and childcare is often a problem for these people.
Author Kate Goddard said: "The continuing cost barriers faced by parents raise questions about the market's ability to respond to parents' diverse needs."
According to the research, although take-up of the free childcare entitlement for three- and four-year-olds is high, 20 per cent of people in disadvantaged areas still do not use it.
Parents can also find themselves paying for supposedly free childcare as providers charge top-up fees to help fill the gap between running costs and money from government for the free entitlement.
Alison Garnham, joint chief executive of the Daycare Trust, said: "We think more effort needs to be made to make sure free places are advertised as free."
- www.daycaretrust.org.uk.
