Provision
Affordable holiday childcare is target of £5.5m Government pilot
The Government has earmarked £5.5m to pilot ways into how holiday childcare places can be made more affordable and accessible for parents.
Holiday club costs vary throughout the country
Ten local authorities in England will test out new and innovative approaches to holiday provision, children's minister Dawn Primarolo revealed on Wednesday.
The news coincides with findings from a Daycare Trust survey which highlights how the cost of a holiday childcare place varies widely across Britain.
Ms Primarolo welcomed the report, which showed that there has been a slight decrease in holiday childcare costs, but she acknowledged that holiday childcare was 'patchy' and that more needed to be done to make affordable provision widely available across the country.
The Daycare Trust's eighth holiday childcare costs survey found that a place varies between £62.70 and £116.53 a week.
The survey, sponsored by Imagine Co-operative Childcare, is based on information from Family Information Services in England and Wales and Childcare Information Services in Scotland.
Local authority provision is nearly always cheaper than private and voluntary provision. In inner London the cost of a local authority place at a holiday club is £62.70 a week, compared with £107.26 at a private provider.
However, while local authority playschemes are often reasonably priced and heavily subsidised, they are usually based on sessional childcare and do not open for long enough to fit in with the needs of working parents.
The report said that as most parents do not have jobs that fit with school holidays, there is an urgent need for affordable care that provides activities for the whole day.
Availability remains an issue, with just 28 per cent of Family Information Services in England saying that there was enough holiday childcare in the area for all children.
The survey also asked whether parents had reported a lack of holiday childcare.
This was the case for 75 per cent of information services in Wales, 48 per cent in England and 38 per cent in Scotland.
The survey highlights a marked shortage of holiday childcare for disabled children and teenagers.
In its report the Daycare Trust recommends:
- An urgent increase in holiday childcare provision, given the impact of the Government's welfare reforms on lone parents
- Sustained subsidy to LAs so all parents can access affordable, high-quality holiday childcare
- Government to increase the proportion of childcare costs paid through tax credits to 100 per cent.
Further information
