Local Authorities are Failing to Provide Enough Childcare in Communities
- - One in three parents cite shortage of affordable childcare.
- - Local Authorities ignoring their responsibilities under the Childcare Act.
- - Only one in seven local authorities have enough childcare for disabled children.
- - The 2013 Budget must put childcare higher up the agenda, says family institute.
More than two thirds of councils are failing to ensure enough childcare for working parents, according to a new report from Daycare Trust and the Family and Parenting Institute.
Findings in the report, officially out on Wednesday 6 March, suggest that some local authorities are failing to meet their statutory duty of providing adequate amounts of childcare in the community.
This is increasing the financial pressure on struggling families and preventing mothers with young children from staying in the workforce.
Anand Shukla, Chief Executive of Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute, said: “Councils across England and Wales are failing families by presiding over a continuing shortage of high quality, affordable childcare.
“The Childcare Act 2006 was designed to ensure sufficient childcare provision so that anyone could work. At a time when one in five children lives in poverty, the failure to provide this essential service for parents who want to provide for their families is a national scandal.
Just one in five local authorities have enough childcare for parents with children under two, and one in three for school age children. Just one in seven have enough childcare for disabled children – a figure which has not improved in five years.
Anand added: “Local authorities have a legal duty to ensure a sufficient supply of childcare in their areas, but no doubt their failure to do so is linked to the tight financial squeeze they find themselves in, with ever more austere funding settlements.
“Only the Government can address this situation by investing more in providing support for parents.”
These findings follow recently published DWP statistics that show a third of parents who want to work more cannot because of the lack of affordable childcare in their local area.
The best way of helping parents and tackling the problems in the childcare system is to focus on the twin challenges of quality and affordability – changes to ratios will do little to address....
With childcare hard to find, childcare costs spiralling at above inflation rates, and stagnating wages and cuts to support through the tax credit system, parents of young children are being hit at every turn in today’s economy.
Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute is today, calling on the Government to invest more in essential childcare for families in this year’s 2013 budget.
The Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute’s Childcare Costs Survey 2013, compiled from figures submitted by Family Information Services, also contains evidence suggesting that government plans, to reduce adult-to-child ratios in childcare settings, will not have much impact on childcare costs.
Care costs for three and four-year-olds are just 1.9 per cent lower than childcare for under twos, where higher ratios apply.
The charity believes the planned changes are likely to exacerbate differences in quality that affect low income groups. Providers in the most disadvantaged areas are reliant on funding from local authorities, which are increasingly struggling to adequately fund childcare.
As a result, it is children from low income families who are most likely to receive care from providers using the lowest ratios.
Some of the steepest cost hikes of all are in the less talked about, equally important area of childcare for school-age children, where the lowest staff-child ratios apply.
Anand said: “Staffing costs are only part of a complicated picture, so allowing adults to look after more children at once is not only a risky idea, but an ineffective one too.
“With private and non-profit childcare providers exposed to the full force of a harsh business economy, we doubt whether parents will ever see any of the money saved by cutting nursery staff.
“The funding system for childcare is overly complex and our figures may differ from the expenditure of different childcare providers plan around to ensure high quality care. Yet, the survey makes clear that – from a parent’s perspective – childcare costs are increasingly difficult to manage which is a finding that should concern us all’
The survey paints a picture of nursery, childminder and after-school club costs rising at levels well above the inflation rate.
Anand advised: “The best way of helping parents and tackling the problems in the childcare system is to focus on the twin challenges of quality and affordability – changes to ratios will do little to address these issues.”
The full report - The Daycare Trust and Family and Parenting Institute’s Childcare Costs Survey 2013 – will be published on Wednesday 6th March 2013.
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