Parents in deprived areas 'struggling with childcare'
Neil Puffett
Wednesday, August 25, 2021
Difficulty accessing early years provision has left more than a quarter of parents with under-fives struggling to balance work and childcare with those in deprived areas disproportionately affected, a study has found.
A poll of more than 3,000 parents conducted by the Early Years Alliance found that the issue is more acute with parents in deprived areas, who are 22 per cent more likely to say they are struggling to balance work and childcare.
Seven out of 10 parents said government isn’t doing enough to support parents of under-fives to access affordable, accessible childcare, rising to four in every five parents in the most deprived areas.
The study found that 36 per cent of parents who responded said that difficulties accessing childcare had negatively impacted their work life, with 47 per cent reporting that it had negatively impacted their mental health.
The Early Years Alliance said that, according to government data, the number of settings on the early years register has fallen drastically in the past 12 months, with a net loss of more than 2,500 settings, equivalent to 4.5 per cent of the overall sector.
According to the poll, seven per cent of parents who previously attended a childcare setting that had permanently closed found it challenging to secure an alternative, with 29 per cent saying it was easy to find a new setting.
One in six (17 per cent) of respondents said problems accessing childcare had resulted in poor mental health, with stress and anxiety the most frequent complaints. And 16 per cent of respondents reported having to reduce their working hours with the average number falling from 36.7 a week to 21.7 hours per week.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: "This government has repeatedly told the public it is on the side of working families, but cuts to crucial early care and education tell a different story. Early years settings deliver vital learning and development opportunities to young children, but also provide the quality childcare that parents rely on to work, bring in additional income and further their careers.
"With budgets becoming ever tighter in the face of rising costs and stagnant funding, many nurseries, pre-schools and childminders have been forced to make tough decisions about the days, hours, and flexibility they can offer. As our survey shows, this in turn is forcing parents to make their own difficult choices about their working lives. For settings and families in more deprived areas, these challenges are even more acute.
"We have seen the government documents: ministers are fully aware that early years underfunding is driving up childcare costs – and that this is keeping parents, and especially mothers out of the workplace – and yet they continue to insist that all is fine and refuse to even review what is clearly a broken system.
"We urge the government to seize the opportunity of the spending review this autumn to finally show it has the interests of children and families at heart, something it is yet to demonstrate in any meaningful way."
