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Daycare Trust : Wales Succeeds In Containing Rising Childcare Costs – But Parents Need More Help

Childcare costs for pre-school children in Wales, while still increasing, are rising at a lower rate than inflation, according to a survey published today (Tuesday 30 January) by Daycare Trust. A typical full-time nursery place for a child under two is £131 a week. The costs have increased by just two percent from last year, and remain much lower than the typical weekly cost in England, which increased to £152.

Despite the modest rises in costs for nurseries, full-time childminder fees increased by nine percent and out of school club costs (for 15 hours a week) increased by 13 percent. Parents still find childcare costs prohibitive, with 55 percent of Children’s Information Services in Wales reporting that parents have mentioned a lack of affordable childcare in their area over the last 12 months.

Daycare Trust’s sixth annual childcare costs survey shows that costs continue to rise above the rate of inflation, and that the typical costs in England are higher than those in Wales. Only the Midlands had lower typical childcare costs than in Wales.

Compiled from a survey of 122 out of 172 Children's Information Services in England and Wales, based on 50 hours a week in a nursery or with a childminder and 15 hours a week at an out of school club

Help with childcare costs is available through the tax credit system, and many parents can now also get tax relief through their employer, via childcare vouchers. Three and four year olds are entitled to 12.5 hours of free nursery education a week. However many families still struggle to meet the costs of childcare provision. Parents in the UK pay around 70 per cent of the cost of childcare, compared with European parents who pay around 30 per cent of their childcare costs.

Alison Garnham, Joint-Chief Executive of Daycare Trust, said,

“Although typical childcare costs in Wales are lower than those in most regions of England, they still represent almost a third of the average UK income of £447 a week. The fact that parents are still reporting a lack of affordable childcare shows that despite recent government investment in early years and childcare, funding needs to be further improved so that all children have access to high quality, affordable and accessible childcare.”

Daycare Trust is calling on the government to invest in high quality early education and childcare services by:

• Investing more on supply side funding and eventually phasing out the reliance on tax credits to pay for childcare costs;
• Increasing the free entitlement to early years education to 20 hours per week for 48 weeks a year for all two, three and four year olds;
• Ensuring that local authorities have adequate funding and resources to develop childcare services which meet the needs of all families who want them in their areas, including an exploration of developing more locally based funds to subsidise childcare places, eg for disabled children;
• With the current tax credit regime, increase the proportion of eligible childcare costs to 100 per cent and enable maximum levels to take into account regional disparity and additional costs faced by disabled children.

NOTES

This is the sixth annual childcare costs survey in England, and the third year the survey has been completed in Scotland and Wales.

The childcare costs survey for England is also released today. The survey results for Scotland will be available shortly.

* Source: Office for National Statistics
^ Nursery costs not differentiated for under 2 and 2 and over