You are here: News Many childcare providers face big financial problems as a result of the pandemic
New research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation and carried out by a team of researchers at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the University of Birmingham, Frontier Economics, Coram Family and Childcare, and the University of Surrey, analyses how childcare providers’ finances are likely to have been affected by the lockdown, and how they might look going forward. It finds that more than double the number of private sector nurseries than pre-pandemic would have been running at a significant deficit during lockdown, with less than £4 in income for every £5 of costs. This is despite government support through continued public funding and the substantial furlough and self-employment schemes.
Megan Jarvie, Head of Coram Family and Childcare said:
Childcare is a crucial part of our infrastructure allowing parents to work and helping to boost children’s incomes. Although the pandemic has shown how reliant we are on childcare for a reliable workforce, this analysis also shows the financial knock the already troubled childcare market has faced as a result of lockdown.
While so much is still unknown about what happens next, it is essential that Government make sure that every family are still able to access the childcare they need and that the cost burden of lockdown is not passed on to parents.”
For more information, please contact Emma Lamberton, Communications Manager, Coram at emma.lamberton@coram.org.uk / 0207 520 0427 /07908 827908 or Bonnie Brimstone, Head of Communications, Institute of Fiscal Studies at bonnie_b@ifs.org.uk.
About Coram Family and Childcare
Coram Family and Childcare works to make the UK a better place for families by bringing together what we learn from our on the ground parent-led programmes and our research to campaign for solutions that parents want and need. We focus on childcare and early years to make a difference to families’ lives now and in the long term.

Latest news
London families now face annual childcare bill of £8,600
26 February 2020
Parents in London now pay an average of £165.47 per week, or £8,600 per year, for a part-time...
Scottish families face rising childcare costs, with annual bill of almost £5,800
26 February 2020
Scottish parents are paying 2% more for childcare for the under-twos than they were one year...
Over half of parents with young children feel lonely, with those on lowest incomes twice as likely to be affected
27 November 2019
New research published today by Coram Family and Childcare has found that over half (56%) of...
Rapid rise in Welsh holiday childcare prices leaves parents hot and bothered
18 July 2018
Holiday childcare costs have risen by four per cent in Wales since last summer, bringing the...
Scottish families facing holiday childcare bill of over £700 – more than double the cost of term time childcare
16 July 2019
Holiday childcare costs have risen by one per cent in Scotland since last summer, bringing the...
Working parents facing holiday childcare bill of up to £800 – more than double the cost of term time childcare
16 July 2019
Holiday childcare prices have risen by percent in Britain since last summer