Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The introduction of the National Childcare Strategy in 1998 marked a radical shift in government policy and for the first time put childcare provision firmly on the political map. Since then a wide range of childcare initiatives and funding streams have been introduced, and hence there is a need for regular data to aid the evaluation of recent policy interventions in these areas. The Childcare and Early Years Provision survey series is divided into two survey strands: the Parents’ Survey and the Providers’ Survey. The Parents’ Survey provides data on parents’ take-up, views and experiences of childcare. Families in England are randomly selected from the Child Benefit Records and all parents had children aged 0-14 years. They are asked about their use and experiences of childcare for all children in the family and to give more detailed information about childcare for a particular child (selected at random where there is more than one child in the family). The current Parents' Survey series replaces two previous surveys: the Survey of Parents of Three and Four-Year-Old Children and Their Use of Early Years Services (conducted between 1997 and 2002) and Parents' Demand for Childcare, conducted in 1999 and 2001 (see SNs 4380 and 4970 respectively). The Providers' Survey monitors the characteristics and development of childcare and early years providers and the workforce in England. Information was collected on the number and characteristics of providers, the characteristics of the children enrolled, workforce composition, qualifications and training, recruitment and retention, and business operation. The 2016 survey underwent an extensive redesign, which means findings are not comparable with previous surveys.The 2020 survey was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic Further information is available on the GOV.UK Childcare and Early Years Statistics webpage.Special licence dataAdditional, more detailed variables from the Providers' Survey in 2018, 2019 and 2021 are available under Special Licence (SL). The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Users are advised to consult the EUL version first and the list of variables available under each study before applying.
The current Parents' Survey series replaces two previous surveys: the Survey of Parents of Three and Four Year Old Children and Their Use of Early Years Services (conducted between 1997 and 2002) and the Parents’ Demand for Childcare (conducted in 1999 and 2001) (the latter series is held at the UKDA under GN 33341). The Childcare and Early Years Provision: Parents' Use, Views and Experiences, 2004 aims were to continue from the previous series, and to provide nationally representative, salient and up to date information on parents' use, views and experiences of childcare, upon which to base evaluations or recent policy interventions. The survey series uses an inclusive definition of childcare and early years provision as parents were asked to include any time that their child was not with resident parents or at school. This included informal care provided by grandparents and ex-partners as well as formal care; and included times when parents were working and when they were not. Parents were asked their reasons for using childcare, enabling us to report on childcare used for economic reasons, and childcare used for the child's education. Further information is available on the NatCen Families and Children web page.
Main Topics:
Topics covered included: who used what childcare and early years provision (data collected in relation to last year and last week); why parents use childcare or early years provision (who used which types of childcare for economic and educational reasons); when parents use childcare and early years provision (number of providers, number of days used, patterns of use across the day); the cost of childcare and early years provision (who pays, how much, weekly cost, hourly cost, awareness of costs, financial help towards costs); barriers to using childcare and early years providers (affordability, availability and quality of childcare in local area; costs as a barrier to use; access to information about childcare); what parents of pre-school children feel about their childcare and early years provision (main providers; how main providers were chosen; room for improvement; perceptions of input into child's development; feelings about feedback from providers); what parents of school age children feel about their childcare (main providers, childminders, reception classes, breakfast and after school clubs - why used, who uses them and whether they are satisfied).
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Face-to-face interview
Diaries
