Poor families lose out on childcare

Richer families are taking up a disproportionate number of registered childcare places compared to families on low or moderate incomes, according to a report for the Department for Work and Pensions (DfWP). The report, Families and children 2001: Work and childcare, by the Policy Studies Institute and published by the DfWP at the end of last month, said that childcare arrangements differed according to a family's socio-economic status, with families on higher incomes much more likely than those on low incomes to use formal childcare for their children, whether lone parents or couples.