Around a third of parents used formal childcare in April

Her thanks come as the Department for Education released findings that two-thirds (68 per cent) of parents classed as critical workers during the pandemic felt that the childcare hours available to them last month enabled them to do their job.

The survey of 1,000 parents of children aged from birth to four in England, conducted by Ipsos MORI, found that around a third (36 per cent) of children with parents that are critical workers, or who are vulnerable, used formal childcare in April. Almost three-quarters of parents (73 per cent) who continued to use childcare were able to use the same childcare provider as before the pandemic, providing their children with stability.

Those critical workers or parents of vulnerable children not accessing childcare was primarily down to parental choice. The key reasons cited were:

• having somebody at home that could care for the child (43 per cent)
• never using childcare (21 per cent)
• being too concerned about their child’s health during Covid-19 to let them use childcare (21 per cent).

Ms Ford said, ‘I want to thank early years professionals for their continued dedication in helping critical workers and parents of vulnerable children access childcare. Parents remain eligible for our childcare offers if their income falls during the pandemic, and we have given councils increased flexibility to ensure there are enough childcare places.’

The survey also questioned parents on what they were doing at home with their children and how they accessed information on activities. They most commonly found out about play and learning activities from:

• social media (38 per cent)
• friends and relatives (37 per cent)
• other parents (28 per cent)
• children’s TV programmes (24 per cent)
• their child’s usual setting/school (22 per cent)
• the BBC website or iPlayer (21 per cent).

More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of families undertook reading-based activities with their pre-school child at least once a day. Forty per cent of parents expressed that they would like to carry out more educational activities with their children at home.

• The Department for Education’s Hungry Little Minds website features tips, resources and practical activities that parents can do with their young children at home to support early learning. It received more than 180,000 new users between 16 March and 27 April 2020.