The Scottish Government

Next »

Listen

Summary Results of the 2003 Survey of Childminders

A Scottish Executive National Statistics Publication

5 August 2003

This document is also available in pdf format (64k)

Statistics on childminders in Scotland in January 2003 are published today. The main points are:

• There are 6,211 childminders in Scotland.

• Ninety nine per cent of all childminders in Scotland are female.

• There are 26,570 childminding places available for children during the school term, in Scotland. There are 4,253 places available to children during the evenings, 3,951 at the weekends and 23,157 during school holidays.

• There are approximately 22,561 children being cared for by childminders in Scotland. Therefore each childminder provides care for an average of four children.

• This is the first time the Scottish Executive has carried out a survey of childminders since 1996. There has been a decrease of 22 per cent in the number of childminders between 1998 and 2003.

• One third of all childminders in Scotland have between two to five years' experience in childminding, and a quarter have between six to ten years' experience.

• Seventy eight per cent of childminders in Scotland have no qualifications that relate to childcare.

• Half of all childminders in Scotland are aged between 35 and 44.

• Almost half of all childminders charge between £2.50 and £3.00.

• Over a half of all childminders in Scotland work more than 35 hours a week, with a quarter working less than twenty hours a week.

• Half (51 per cent) of childminders offer childminding services every weekday, before school. Similar numbers offer childminding services every weekday morning (54 per cent), every weekday afternoon (55 per cent), and after school five days a week (56 per cent).

• The majority of childminders (91 per cent) do not offer childminding services in the evenings.

• A significant number of children attend childminders before or after school. There is much lower numbers receiving care during the evenings or at the weekend.

The following tables are available:

Table 1: Summary statistics on childminding, January 2003
Table 2: Children attending childminders by age, January 2003
Table 3: Weekly hours worked by childminders, January 2003
Table 4: Number of days childminder service is available by time of day, January 2003
Table 5: Children's attendance at childminders by time of day, January 2003
Table 6: Charge per child per hour of childminding, January 2003
Table 7: Average weekly income for childminders, January 2003
Table 8: Summary statistics for childminding by local authority area, January 2003
Table 9: Number of childminders and childminding places, 1983-2003

NOTES FOR NEWS EDITORS

1. This is the first Scottish Executive survey of childminders since 1996, though total childminder numbers were collected in November 1998.
2. The survey went to over 1,200 childminders: 40 from each local authority area. The response rate to the survey was 75 per cent. This response rate refers to a sample of 775 childminders. Figures have been scaled to represent the total number of childminders in Scotland. This has been done separately for each local authority, with known totals of childminder numbers in each area.
3. More detailed information is available on request - media should contact Rona Dunbar on 0131-244-2670 - and on the Scottish Executive web site (>

Contact: Rona Dunbar 0131 244 2670

News Release:

Next »