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IMPACT OF CHILDCARE SUPPORT FOR LONE PARENT STUDENTS

5 CHILDCARE ISSUES

This section describes the range of childcare issues arising from survey responses and the focus groups.

5.1 MAIN CHILDCARE ARRANGEMENTS

5.1.1 Friends or relatives provide childcare for 44% of respondents. Only 17% use a registered childminder. (The figures exceed 100% as some parents gave more than one answer - i.e. where they are using a combination of different arrangements, particularly where respondents have more than one child.)

5.1.2 The findings of the focus groups suggest that the main reasons for not using 'formal' childcare are cost, the lack of availability of registered minders (particularly in rural areas), and the need to book formal childcare places in advance of knowing the actual need.

Figure 10: Main Childcare Arrangement

5.1.3 Childcare places have to be booked, and often taken up, before the lone parent's grant allocation has been notified, and sometimes before they know their timetable. HE students in FE colleges start in late August or early September, but the grants are geared to an October start. After School Clubs are geared to the school term and places have to be taken up from August.

"You don't get your timetable until the week that you start, so you cannot organise childcare. School starts in August, then you get your timetable when Uni. starts. By the time you know what you need, all the after school places have already gone." (Female, Dundee, HE in FE college)

"After school clubs - I find you have to pay for a whole week, whereas you might only need it for three days, but you have to pay for the full whack, and that is really frustrating." (Female, Edinburgh, HEI)

"People living in small villages experience childcare problems (of availability) when attending college……..While the grant is very good, it does not help some people." (Female, Dundee, HEI)

"It took me a while to find a childminder, and then you have to pay them upfront. It's unbelievable the amount of money you have to pay them - it's 100 per week." (Female, Edinburgh, HEI)

5.1.4 The issues of cost and availability of formal care means that there can be an impact on the wider family. Several participants in the focus groups reported that their own mothers had given up work, or reduced their working hours, in order to help their daughters with childcare. This constitutes a negative impact on the job market.

"My mum gave up her job so that I could go to College." (Female, Dundee, HE in FE)

"I would like to see the childcare grant available for non-registered carers - you still have to pay something. Grandparents are giving up jobs to help out." (Female, Dundee, HE)

5.2 CHILDCARE ARRANGEMENTS OF LONE PARENT CHILDCARE GRANT CLAIMANTS AND NON CLAIMANTS

5.2.1 There is a markedly different pattern of usage of the different types of childcare arrangement between claimants and non-claimants of the LPCG.

Table 12: Main Childcare Arrangement by Lone Parent Childcare Grant Claimant Status

5.2.2 Some 87% of Non Claimants are using informal arrangements as their main form of childcare, and only 17% are using formal arrangements.

23% of Claimants say they are using informal arrangements. Such arrangements are not eligible for the grant, but as the responses to the question exceeded 100%, this means that LPCG Claimants gave more than one answer to the question "What is your main childcare arrangement?" This may be because they are using a combination of formal and informal arrangements, or because they have more than one child.

5.3 AGE OF CHILD BY MAIN CHILDCARE ARRANGEMENT

5.3.1 Children under the age of 2 are most likely to be in a formal childcare arrangement (66% compared to 30% of the total sample), while the use of informal arrangements increases with the age of the child.

Table 13: Age of Child by Parent's Main Childcare Arrangement ¹

5.3.2 Approximately a third of under 5s are in informal care arrangements, compared to over half the 5 - 10 year olds, and nearly three-quarters (73%) of 11-15 year olds.

5.3.3 The use of informal care over the age of 11 is driven by the lack of formal facilities, which was highlighted by lone parents who took part in the focus groups.

5.3.4 There are some apparent inconsistencies in this table in terms of the age of the child and the childcare arrangement. Pre School Education covers state nurseries and private nurseries. Whilst state nurseries do not take children below the age of 3, private nurseries do accept them (this helps to explain the 27% of under 2s that attend Pre School Education). After School Care (Pre School) again includes private nurseries who offer this facility. (See also Footnote 1 below.)

¹ In order to keep this self-completion questionnaire as brief as possible and to maximise returns, lone parents were asked firstly how many children they have in each age group, and then for their main childcare arrangement. This means that where parents have more than one child, there may not be a direct link between the age of the child and the main arrangement.

5.4 AGE OF PARENT AND MAIN CHILDCARE ARRANGEMENT

5.4.1 Younger parents are most likely to use a Registered Minder and Pre-School Education. The use of Informal Care (Friends and Relatives or Other Informal Care) rises with the age of the parent. Only 36% of parents under 25 utilise a form of Informal Care, compared to 65% of 36-44 year olds, and 73% of 45-54 year old parents.

Table 14: Age of Parent by Main Childcare Arrangement and Instance of Claiming Grant

5.4.2 Whilst the sample splits almost exactly into LPCG Claimants and Non-Claimants, when the figures are analysed by age, it is apparent that the younger parents are the most likely to claim the LPCG. This is in line with their pattern of greater use of formal childcare arrangements, as highlighted in the table above.

5.5 SUMMARY

5.5.1 Friends or relatives provide childcare for 44% of survey respondents. The main reasons for not using 'formal' childcare are cost, the lack of availability of registered minders (particularly in rural areas), and the need to book formal childcare places in advance of knowing the actual need. Claimants of the LPCG are much more likely to be using 'formal' childcare than non-claimants. The use of informal childcare increases with the age of the child and with the age of the parent. Cost and availability issues can mean that another member of the lone parent's family gives up work to help with childcare.

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