Authored by Megan Jarvie and Mohammed Dali-Chaouch 

In an early release to the 21st annual Childcare Survey, Coram Family and Childcare have found that childcare usage had dropped in the vast majority of local authority areas in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many also reported a drop in the supply of childcare, with a third seeing an increase in permanent closures of childcare settings compared to last year.

The Government has recently announced an end to the additional support for childcare providers introduced in Spring to help sustain them through the pandemic. Our research has found that this is likely to lead to childcare providers closing in over half of local areas and result in childcare shortages in one in five areas within the next term.