All supporting files from this release are listed for individual download below:
2024 Childcare and early years survey of parents (xlsx, 691 Kb)
Additional tables
This Official Statistics release provides the main findings of the 2024 wave in the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents series.
The survey is funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and managed by Ipsos. It aims to provide information to help monitor the progress of policies and public attitudes in childcare and early years education.
The 2024 survey reports the findings of interviews, conducted between April and December 2024, with a nationally representative sample of 5,777 parents with children aged 0 to 14 living in England. Interviews are primarily carried out face-to-face. More information on the background and methodology to the study can be found in the methodology.
Note - references to “Accompanying Tables” refer to those found under “Additional supporting files”.
Where differences are commented upon, e.g. as increases or decreases, or differences between sub-groups, these differences are statistically significant. Where differences are not statistically significant, they are described as being ‘in line with’ or ‘unchanged from’ previous figures.
The study uses a very inclusive definition of childcare and early years provision. Parents were asked to include any time that the child was not with a resident parent, or a resident parent’s current (or ex-) husband, wife, or partner.
Prior to the 2023 survey wave, ‘after school clubs and activities’ were grouped and regarded as ‘formal providers’ in the list of childcare providers that is shown to respondents during the survey interview and used for reporting purposes. For 2023 onwards, the reference to ‘activities’ was removed, so that only ‘after school clubs’ are considered formal providers of childcare.
For the 2024 survey wave, ‘breakfast clubs’ was expanded to include ‘or before school clubs’. This change was made to ensure that clubs running before the school day started, which did not offer breakfast, were also accounted for. Further information about this change can be found in the methodology.
64%
This is in line with 2023 (63%)
64%
This is a rise from 2023 (58%)
96%
This is a rise from 2023 (89%)
Proportion of parents ‘satisfied’ with how they were able to use their funded hours under the 2-year-old offer for those in receipt of some forms of government support
59%
72%
This is in line with 2023 (71%)
64%
This is in line with 66% in 2023.
Proportion of working mothers with children aged 0 to 4 years only who said that having reliable childcare helped them go to work.
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Additional tables
This section discusses the use of childcare, both formal and informal childcare and holiday childcare among children. The section also explores reasons for using and for not using childcare, along with views on local childcare provision and how it could be improved.
There has been very little change in the overall use of childcare since 2023 and the trend that pre-school age children were more likely to receive any childcare than school age children has continued in 2024.
Among children, there were differences in the use of childcare by age of the children with younger children being more likely to receive childcare compared to their older counterparts (Accompanying Table 1.8).
Informal childcare use varied among the different ages of children. Children aged 0 to 4 years and children aged 5 to 7 years were more likely to receive informal childcare than older children (aged 8 to 14 years) (Accompanying Table 1.8).
Children aged 0 to 4 years received more hours per week in informal childcare than older children (Accompanying Table 1.10). This overall finding is unchanged from 2023.
As in 2023, the most common provider of informal childcare was grandparents (Accompanying Table 1.8).
There were differences in the use of holiday childcare depending on the age of the child (Accompanying Table 7.4).
Parents were asked what changes to local childcare provision, if any, would be most helpful for making it better suited to their needs (Accompanying Table 5.18). The results were in line with those from 2023, except for the availability of more childcare in the school holidays, where the proportion of families with children aged 0 to 4 years old mentioning this was higher this year compared to last.
Over half (56%) of parents in families with child(ren) aged between 0 and 14 years said they did not want to use another formal childcare provider as they were happy with their current arrangements, in line with 2023 (57%) (Accompanying Table 5.20).
Of those parents that did want to use another formal provider, one in five (20%) said that they wanted to use a holiday club or scheme, unchanged from 2023.
This section describes the awareness and receipt of government funded childcare and early education and is based only on parents of children aged 0 to 4 years old.
All 3 and 4 year olds in England are entitled to a defined number of hours of funded childcare or early education. Some 2 year olds are also eligible to access a defined number of hours of funded childcare or early education - for example if their parent or guardian receives certain benefits, or they have a statement of special educational needs. Find out more information on the eligibility criteria (opens in a new tab).
All 3 and 4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds, are entitled to 570 hours of funded early education or childcare per year. This is usually taken as 15 hours a week for 38 weeks of the year (although it is also possible to take fewer hours over more weeks).
All 3 and 4 year olds with working parents are also eligible for a further 15 hours, to bring the total to 30 hours a week. Parents can usually get 30 hours of funded childcare if they (and their partner, if they have one) are in work (or getting parental leave, sick leave or annual leave), and are earning at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week. Parents can also receive 30 hours funded childcare if they are claiming Universal Credit, tax credits, childcare vouchers or Tax-Free Childcare.
From April 2024, new childcare entitlements for children aged 9 months up to 3 years with eligible working parents started to be rolled out in stages, as follows:
i) From April 2024, working parents of children aged between 24 months and up to 36 months were able to get 15 hours funded childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year.
ii) From September 2024, this was extended to include working parents of younger children, so children aged between 9 months and up to 24 months were also eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year.
iii) By September 2025, all children of working parents aged between 9 months and up to 36 months will be eligible for an extra 15 hours of funded childcare per week, bringing the total number of funded hours of childcare to 30 hours per week. These funded hours will be available to lone working parents and in working families where each parent works and earns the equivalent of 16 hours per week at the National Minimum Wage. To be eligible, each parent must earn below £100,000 per year.
Previously, only some 2 year olds were entitled to 15 hours of funded childcare per week. However, in April 2024, this offer was extended to working parents of children aged between 24 months and up to 36 months.
At the start of fieldwork, three types of 15 hour offers were available:
Official statistics from the DfE’s Early Years Census and Schools Census show that in January 2024, an estimated 95% of 3 to 4 year olds and 75% of eligible 2 year olds benefitted from funded childcare and early education, the highest figure since 2014.
The Department for Education’s Early Years Census and Schools Census are the official take up figures for funded childcare and early education.
Over four in five (85%) parents with a child aged 2 years old that were aware of the new 15 hours offer for working parents had applied for the scheme and a further 10% were intending to apply for it (Accompanying Table 2.7).
Parents receiving free hours under the new 15 hour offer for working parents were asked about the impact of the scheme on the amount and type of work they chose to do, their family finances and the quality of their family life.
Fieldwork for the 2024 survey took place between April and December 2024, prior to the full expansion of the 30 hours offer for younger children with working parents, which was rolled out in stages from April 2024. Parents were asked about their awareness of the forthcoming offer – due to be rolled out fully by September 2025 - during the 2024 survey with all results reported in Accompanying Table 2.6.
Parents using the 30 hours were asked to gauge the perceived impact of the hours on their work (Accompanying Table 3.3). These results were all in line with 2023.
Parents using the 30 hours were also asked some questions to gauge the perceived impact of the hours on their family finances and the overall quality of their family life (Accompanying Tables 3.5 and 3.7).
There were some differences amongst parents who were aware of the 15 hours offer or the 30 hours offer in awareness of the extra charges by annual income and family type (Table 3.11).
There were also some differences amongst parents who were aware of the 15 hours offer or the 30 hours offer in terms of whether the additional charges had stopped them from applying for more hours at an existing provider by annual income and family type but not by age of child (Table 3.13).
This section firstly describes the weekly cost of childcare for families and per child, and perceptions around the cost of childcare in terms of affordability and the ease of paying for childcare.
Perceptions of affordability were explored by different family types - those with children aged 0 to 4 years only, aged 5 to 14 years only and families with children aged both 0 to 4 years and aged 5 to 14 years.
Among families with children aged 0 to 4 years only:
Among families with children aged 0 to 4 years and aged 5 to 14 years:
Among families with children aged 5 to 14 years only:
Perceptions of affordability were similar across families with children aged 0 to 4 years only, 5 to 14 years only and children in both age groups. Each of these results are in line with those from 2023.
This section explores perceptions of the quality, availability and flexibility of local childcare provision as well as provision specifically for special educational needs and disabilities. It also touches on the availability of information about local childcare.
Among families with children aged 0 to 4 years only (Accompanying Table 5.2):
Among families with children aged 5 to 14 years only (Accompanying Table 5.2):
A lower percentage of families with children aged 5 to 14 years only, than parents with children aged 0 to 4 years only, rated the quality of local childcare provision as ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ good. This could in part be attributed to the higher percentage of families with children aged 5 to 14 years saying they were ‘not sure’ about the quality of childcare (29%), compared to 21% among families with children aged 0 to 4 years only. Parents in families with children aged 5 to 14 only are more likely to say ‘not sure’ than those with children aged 0 to 4 years only (Accompanying Table 5.2).
Parents were asked what three factors they considered most important in high quality childcare and early years education for their child aged 0 to 4 years (Accompanying Table 5.11). The most important factor reported was activities that encourage the child to socialise with other children (56%), in line with 2023 (57%), followed by each staff member only having a small number of children to look after (49%) in line with 2023 (47%) and receiving regular feedback on their child’s progress (34%) in line with 2023, 35%.
Parents were also asked what they considered important in high quality childcare and out of school activities for their child aged 5 to 14 years. Again, these results are in line with those from 2023. The most important factor was activities that encourage the child to socialise with other children (55%, in line with 53% in 2023), having staff that are qualified for their role (32%, in line with 31% in 2023) and the childcare or activity being affordable (31%, in line with 32% in 2023) (Accompanying Table 5.25).
Parents’ general perceptions about the availability and flexibility of childcare provision this year are all in line with 2023.
Parents who were working part-time, were unemployed or were looking after the home and family were asked what changes to term time childcare provision were needed to make it better suited to their work needs (Accompanying Table 1.16).
All families with children aged 4 to 14 who used afterschool clubs, breakfast clubs or before school clubs were asked whether the current opening hours of these clubs enabled them to work the hours that best suited their needs (Accompanying Table 6.21).
Families with children aged 4 to 14 who used afterschool clubs, breakfast clubs or before school clubs but for whom the current opening hours did not enable them to work the hours that best suited their needs were asked whether extended opening times (from 8am for breakfast clubs or until 6pm for after school clubs) would suit their needs better (Accompanying Table 6.21).
Families with children aged 4 to 14 who did not use afterschool clubs, breakfast clubs or before school clubs were asked the reasons for this (Accompanying Table 6.22). The most common reason was convenience – either to give children breakfast at home (43%) or bring children straight home after school (23%). The second most common reason was affordability – 17% of parents indicated that they did not use afterschool clubs because they couldn’t afford them or that they were too expensive compared to 13% indicating the same about breakfast clubs or before school clubs.
Just under one in six (14%) children aged between 0 and 14 years old had a special educational need, and just under one in ten (8%) had a long-standing physical or mental impairment, illness or disability (Table B.11, Methodology).
Parents whose children were receiving support for a special educational need or with a long-standing physical or mental impairment, illness, or disability which affects them to at least a small extent were asked about childcare provision for their child(ren).
This section discusses the frequency of learning within the home environment among children aged 0 to 5 years as well as sources of information for and ideas about learning and play activities. Awareness of, access to and services used at Family Hubs and Children’s centres has also been reported on.
Parents were asked where they get information and ideas about learning and play activities that they can do with their child aged 0 to 5 years. Parents were most likely to get information from friends or relatives (61%), social media (52%), other parents (38%), internet sites (36%) and school (30%) (Accompanying Table 6.20).
Parents were asked if they were aware of a family hub, children’s centre, a children and family centre or a family centre, in their local area. For succinctness, we refer to these sites as ‘family hubs or children’s centres’ in the text that follows.
Those that had accessed any services through a family hub or children’s centre in their local area were asked which services or sources of help or support they had accessed in the last year.
The following section focusses primarily on mother’s work patterns and which factors influenced them to go out to work.
Working mothers were asked what childcare arrangements, if any, helped them to work (Accompanying Table 8.3).
Among working mothers in families with children aged 0 to 4 only:
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