Childcare centres in deprived areas could be the remedy for social exclusion, says the Daycare Trust
Centres for Children should become the hub of every deprived community in the country to meet the needs of children in poverty and break the cycle of social exclusion, according to a briefing paper launched today by the national childcare charity, the Daycare Trust.
The proposal, outlined in Achieving potential: how childcare tackles poverty among young children and just ahead of the next week's Budget, stems from evidence that the Government's childcare policies are failing to reach those children most in need.
One in five children in the UK now live in a household where no-one works, almost all of them poor - a higher proportion than in any other developed nation.
The Government accepts that with poverty come the attendant problems of poor health, poor living conditions and low school achievement and that childcare has a vital part to play in enabling parents and carers to access and remain in education or work.
'Our ambitious aim is to ensure good quality and accessible childcare in every community,' education and employment secretary David Blunkett has stated.
However, the Daycare Trust paper notes, 'Current policy does not go far enough. The childcare gap for children in poverty exists despite a range of Government initiatives.'
Where that gap is greatest, argues the paper, is in provision for under-threes. There are 1,819,100 children under three in England and an estimated 268,260 children under three in registered childcare, mostly part-time.
The gap in provision for the under-threes is all the greater in poorer areas, and there is no mechanism at present to close this, states the paper.
'Young children in poverty are still excluded and the cost to those children, their families and their communities is too high. We need a childcare infrastructure that is inclusive, that meets children's needs and that can adapt as family circumstances change,' states the paper, noting:
- The National Childcare Strategy is developing childcare services via 150 Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships. While the New Opportunities Fund is kickstarting out-of-school childcare with 220m between 1999 and 2003, there is no equivalent start-up fund for childcare for young children.
Part-time early education is being developed for some three-year-olds and all four-year-olds, but these part-time services fail to address the needs of families where parents wish to work or study.
- Sure Start programmes target the most disadvantaged areas and aim to promote the physical, intellectual, social and emotional development of young children to make sure that they are ready to thrive when they reach school. Quality childcare could help Sure Start achieve its objectives. However, Sure Start is delivering only 1,700 full-time daycare places for the 55,335 children within its programmes.
- Working Families Tax Credit helps pay for childcare, but registered childcare services in poor areas are often limited or unavailable, so the childcare barrier remains. Parents working under 16 hours per week do not qualify.
With childcare services overwhelmingly market-based, deprived areas are unattractive to private providers. The Daycare Trust paper notes that private nurseries charge 100 to 180 per week for a full-time place, with growth in more affluent areas. Early evidence indicates that the tax credit alone will not stimulate and sustain new services in poor areas.
Childminders charge 60 to 120 per week. More childminders are needed, especially in disadvantaged areas. In one postcode district in a London borough where half of schoolchildren receive free school meals, there were only three registered childminders.
Local authority nurseries are free or scaled up according to income to 160 per week, but the sector for young children is small and shrinking. The number fell from 500 to 400 between 1998 and 1999.
Daycare Trust research has found that there are 600,000 under-threes living in poverty but only 42,740 free or subsidised places for disadvantaged families.
There are two forms of childcare services offering greater hope for poorer communities, argues the Daycare Trust. Community nurseries, where the average cost for a child under two is 81.80 for a full-cost place and 49.99 for a subsidised place, offer 4,740 places and provide childcare services that are flexible, affordable and often linked to programmes helping parents return to work or train. And at Early Excellence Centres, which aim to promote good practice in the early years, childcare is free or scaled according to income.
The Early Excellence model is demonstrably cost-effective, as an independent evaluation 'First findings' has shown that for every 1 spent on their services for family support, 8 is saved on alternative services.
The next step, believes the Daycare Trust, should be the creation of Centres for Children, which would offer a range of support services for parents, carers and children, primarily childcare and education, and so tackle the root problems of social exclusion.
The Centres would draw on the tradition of community nurseries and would be modelled on Early Excellence Centres and Sure Start programmes. Many could be attached to primary schools.
They would provide for a cross-section of children and families in local communities and services would be accessible and affordable to all. The services on offer would fit the changing needs of families, providing stability to children as parents move from welfare to work or from learning to earning.
At their core would be combined nursery care and education for children with a range of satellite services determined by local communities. Out-of-school clubs, childminding networks and support for informal carers could be resourced by Centres for Children plus health and educational services such as antenatal classes, further education classes and drop-in clinics.
Each Centre could service the needs of 230 individual children each week. About 30 could receive full daycare and a further 80 could receive part-time care.
Sixty children could access services at the centre with local childminders while an additional 60 children could attend with their parents, grandparents and informal carers.
Though initially they would be targeted at the most deprived areas, the centres would be intended to serve as models for the whole country. To provide services for one quarter of children under three and their families (454,710 children), 1,977 centres would be needed, an average of 13 per EYDCP.
Some 494m could kickstart Centres for Children for around a quarter of children under three in England. With support, Centres would be able to draw on a range of current sources of funds, but other ongoing revenue funding would be needed.
At present community nurseries can draw revenue funds from sources including European funding, the Single Regeneration Budget, charities, Government programmes and grants for three- and four-year-olds.
Public-partnerships, with housing associations or private nurseries, are sustainable in more affluent areas to provide services to a range of children.
A small percentage of families might receive help from the childcare tax credit. Funding for three- and four-year-olds would contribute to running costs.
A sample balance sheet based on a high-quality community childcare service could be:
Start-up costs (building conversion, fixtures and fittings, equipment) 250,000
Running costs 600,000
Income from fees 125,000
Unit cost per child per annum 4,318
Government initiatives are welcome, but childcare services are far from a normal part of the world for the children under three who are poor or suffering social exclusion, and the Government will have to introduce new measures if it hopes to meet its target of eliminating child poverty in 20 years.
This briefing paper is the first in the series Childcare for All: the Next Steps. For copies, price 5 each, contact Daycare Trust, Shoreditch Town Hall Annexe, 380 Old Street, London EC1V 9LT (020 7739 2866; fax: 020 7739 5579; email: info@daycaretrust.org.uk)
