You are here: News Nearly a million working days lost to UK economy as lack of childcare forces parents out of work | Family and Childcare Trust
New research by the Family and Childcare Trust and Netmums has exposed that almost a fifth (17 per cent) of parents had to call in sick last year in order to manage childcare during the six week summer holiday. A further 12 per cent of parents had been forced to give up their jobs entirely due to a lack of childcare.
This damning revelation means the UK economy is missing out on nearly one million working days, costing the Exchequer nearly £100 million every year.
The survey coincides with the Family and Childcare Trust’s annual review into holiday childcare which shows the average price for holiday clubs and play schemes has gone up to £114.51 per week. Some parents are not able to find summer holiday provision at all, as the survey shows that only 27 per cent of local councils in England and 6 per cent in Wales had enough holiday childcare for working parents.
Other key findings from the research show:
- A family with two school-age children who need to buy four weeks of childcare at a holiday club or play scheme will need to find around £916.08. This could buy a family of four a week’s holiday in Portugal staying at a self-catering apartment, including flights and transfers.
- More than a quarter of parents (27 per cent) said they had not been able to take a family holiday together because they had to use their annual leave separately cover childcare for their children.
- Almost a third (28 per cent) said their employer had refused to change their work patterns over the school holidays.
- 66 per cent said the summer is the most difficult time of the year for finding childcare.
Anand Shukla, chief executive, Family and Childcare Trust said:
“A combination of unaffordable prices, lack of holiday childcare and inflexible employers is not only causing stress for parents, but it’s bad for the economy. “Most parents have no choice but to work, and should not have to take sick days to manage childcare. This is not the way to operate a modern economy, and this is why we are calling on employers and head teachers to help parents manage the school holidays, and on government for a new childcare strategy that properly represents the realities working families face today.”
Julia McGinley from Netmums said:
“This important report echoes what we hear from parents online every day. We were shocked but not surprised to hear about the difficulties that parents face in finding and paying for childcare in the holidays. Many parents get by on a wing and a prayer and that’s not good enough. No parent should be forced to give up work because they can’t find childcare.”
Julian Foster, Managing Director of Computershare Voucher Services, who supported the research, said:
“Finding affordable childcare is always important to working families and it’s perhaps even more vital over the school holidays. Unfortunately, it still seems that provision is either unaffordable for families on modest incomes, or not available at all. “It's worth remembering that childcare vouchers can be accumulated throughout the year to use for activities like summer camps, for all children up to 15 years old. “That can save parents a lot of money. So it’s always a good idea to check which holiday clubs will accept childcare vouchers before making plans.”
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Contact: Mark Bou Mansour, Communications and Campaigns Manager. Telephone: 0207 940 7535, mobile: 07538 334 772, email: mark@familyandchildcaretrust.org.
Notes to Editor
- The Netmums and Family and Childcare Trust survey indicated that 17 per cent of parents had taken sick leave to cover holiday childcare. Assuming that this pattern was replicated nationally for families with children under 12 (5.5 million in Census 2011) and each of these families took one sick day per year, the numbers of days that were lost was 900,000. The economic loss was calculated by multiplying the weeks lost by the average gross weekly income (taken from the 2013 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings).
- During the summer holidays, schools and school-based nurseries are closed and working parents have to find childcare during the day. Not all parents can rely on shift parenting or informal childcare such as grandparents and friends. Some who work with temporary contracts will have insufficient annual leave entitlement, and others may be unable to rely on the support of a partner. For these working parents, affordable formal childcare during the school holidays is essential.
- The most expensive holiday club costing £530 a week is in the East Midlands.
- 35 per cent of parents in our survey find it difficult to find holiday childcare they could afford.
- 25 per cent of parents were forced to cut their hours during school holidays.
- The Family and Childcare Trust’s annual childcare costs surveys are the definitive report on childcare costs and sufficiency in the UK and the data is used by the Department for Education and OECD.
Methodology
1. Holiday childcare costs survey 2014
A survey was sent to all local authority Family Information Services in England and Wales and Children’s Information Services in Scotland in May 2014 requesting details about the costs and availability of holiday childcare. Responses were received from 177 local authorities representing a response rate of 87 per cent and a minimum response rate of 75 per cent in all regions and nations of the UK.
2. Netmums and Family and Childcare Trust joint research
The data is drawn from a survey of 1,587 parents undertaken by Netmums in May 2014. The survey respondents were parents living across the UK. Some 41 per cent had university qualifications, while 36 per cent had Level 3 (A-Level equivalent) qualifications or below.
About the Family and Childcare Trust
The Family and Childcare Trust aims to make the UK a better place for families. We are a leading national family charity in the field of policy, research and advocacy on childcare and family issues, with over 40 years’ experience. Our on-the-ground work with parents and providers informs our research and campaigns. We focus on the early years and childcare because they are crucial to boosting children’s outcomes throughout life and supporting parents to work.
About Netmums
Netmums.com is Britain’s biggest parenting site, with over 1.7 million members and 7 million unique users each month. Founded in 2000, it offers unrivalled support though a unique network of 151 established and vibrant local websites and 300 national groups for mums to meet offline, alongside 2,300 parent bloggers covering the most topical family-focused content on the web. Netmums is also the only parenting site to provide professional round the clock care to its users. Dubbed 'the emergency service for mums', each year over three and a half million parents are helped by Netmums specially trained teams of parenting supporters, including staff from Relate, Women’s Aid and the Family Rights Group. The site also provides free one-to-one support for more than 30,000 of the UK’s most vulnerable mums each year. The three Netmums founders were recently awarded OBEs in recognition of their Services to Families.
About our holiday childcare cost survey sponsors: Computershare Voucher Services (CVS)
Computershare Voucher Services (CVS) is the UK’s largest dedicated childcare voucher provider, responsible for the administration, management and development of childcare vouchers, an employee benefit available to all eligible working parents. CVS currently works with over 100,000 working parents, more than 14,000 organisations and over 87,000 carers each month.
CVS has vast experience of the childcare vouchers industry, reinforced by significant technology enhancements which benefit its diverse customer base, spanning every sector, from some of the UK’s largest corporations to SMEs.
CVS is a founding member of the Childcare Voucher Providers Association (CVPA) which represents childcare voucher providers and sets the benchmark for standards in the industry through its Code of Practice, to ensure carers, parents and employers receive the highest standard of service from childcare voucher providers.
For more information visit: www.computersharevoucherservices.com
Community Playthings
A sound understanding of child development underpins Community Playthings’ product design. Manufactured in the UK, furniture and equipment supports children’s creativity, learning and play in schools and nurseries across the private, voluntary and public sectors.
In collaboration with leading educators and early years consultants, Community Playthings also publishes authoritative staff training resources. The most recent releases are The irresistible classroom and A good place to be Two.
Community Playthings has been creating child-friendly environments for over 50 years. For more information, visit:www.communityplaythings.co.uk