Methodology

Childcare and early years survey of parents

Published

1. Survey background and history

1.1 Aims of the study

This Technical Report describes the methodology of the 2024 survey in the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents (CEYSP) series.

The survey was funded by the Department for Education (DfE) and carried out by Ipsos. The study has two key objectives. The first is to provide salient, up-to-date information on parents’ use of childcare and early years provision, and their views and experiences. The second is to continue the time series statistics – which have now been running for over eleven years – on issues covered throughout the survey series. With respect to these objectives, the study aims to provide information to help monitor effectively the progress of policies in childcare and early years education.

1.2 Time series of the Childcare and early years survey of parents

The current study is the 16th in the CEYSP series, which began in 2004. The time series in fact stretches back further than 2004, as the current series is the merger of two survey series that preceded it: i) the Survey of Parents of Three and Four Year Old Children and Their Use of Early Years Services, of which there were six waves between 1997 and 2004, and ii) the Parents' Demand For Childcare Survey, of which there were two waves, the first in 1999 and the second in 2001.

Previous waves of the CEYSP were conducted in 2004, 2007-2015, and in 2017-2023[1]. To safeguard the 2021 survey against restrictions on face-to-face interviewing arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, remote interviewing modes were employed in addition to face-to-face interviewing, namely: telephone interviewing, and interviewing via Microsoft Teams. The three interviewing modes have been retained for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 waves.  Fieldwork for the 2024 wave started in April 2024 and ended in December 2024.

There are several questions for which trend data extends to the beginning of the time series which include the use of childcare by families and children, and parents’ perceptions of local childcare (the level of information about local childcare, the availability of local childcare, the quality of local childcare, and the affordability of local childcare). Changes to the questionnaire over time has meant that in many instances though, it is not possible to provide direct comparisons that extend to the beginning of the time series.

 

[1] Fieldwork for the 2020 wave took place between January and March but was forced to end after around 1,300 interviews had been conducted, due to restrictions on face-to-face interviewing arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. The data for 2020 was published

2. Overview of the study design

2.1 The sample

A total of 5,777 parents with children aged 0 to 14 in England were interviewed between April 2024 and December 2024. 

A probability sample of children aged 0 to 14 in England was drawn from the Child Benefit Register (CBR) maintained by Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) which, given its high take-up, provides very high coverage of dependent children in England. Interviews were sought with parents of these children. If the sampled child was no longer living at the address, an interview was sought with the current occupiers if they had a child aged 0 to 14, otherwise the address was deemed ineligible[2].

An additional sample of parents in England was drawn from respondents to the Family Resources Survey (FRS) commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), who had consented to be re-contacted for future research[3].

More information about the sample can be found in Section 4.

 

[2] Prior to the 2019 survey, the sampling unit was the child (rather than the address), and in cases where the sampled child had moved from the sampled address, the child was still considered eligible, and the interviewer attempted to trace the child to his or her new address to conduct an interview there. The sampling unit was changed, from the child to the address, due to the increasing proportion of children that were found to have moved address during fieldwork (from 13% in 2010, to 22% in 2018).

[3]This was necessary because the eligibility criteria for Child Benefit changed in 2013 so that higher-income households (those where one or both partners earn £60,000 or more per year) ceased to gain financially from Child Benefit, resulting in them becoming disproportionately likely to be missing from the CBR. To avoid bias to survey estimates, higher-income households missing from the CBR were sampled from the FRS. For further details see Department for Education (2017) Childcare and early years survey of parents: Sampling frames investigation (opens in a new tab)

2.2 The interviews

Interviews were conducted by one of three modes: face-to-face in parents’ homes, by telephone, or by Microsoft Teams. The respondent was a parent or guardian of the sampled child with main or shared responsibility for making childcare decisions, and in most cases (81%) was the child’s mother[4]. 

The study used an inclusive definition of childcare and early years provision. The respondent was asked to include any time their child was not with them (or their current or ex-spouse or partner), or at school. Prior to the 2019 survey wave, ex-spouses and former partners were included in the definition of informal childcare providers. However, following a user consultation in 2018, these types of providers were excluded from the definition of childcare providers. This change was implemented to align the survey's definition of childcare with other national and international surveys, ensuring consistency and comparability of the collected data.

The definition of childcare covered both informal childcare (for instance grandparents, an older sibling, or a friend or neighbour) and formal childcare (for instance nursery schools and classes, childminders, and before- and after-school clubs). Further detail about this definition is provided in Section 2.3.

In families with two or more children, broad questions were asked about the childcare arrangements of all children, before more detailed questions were asked about the randomly sampled child (henceforth referred to as ‘the selected child’).

Because childcare arrangements vary between school term-time and school holidays, most of the questions focused on the most recent term-time week (the ‘reference week’). Separate questions were asked about the use of childcare during times of the year when school children were on holiday.

The interview covered the following topic areas:

  • For all families:

    • use of childcare and early years provision in the reference term-time week, school holidays periods (if applicable) and the past year;
    • payments made for childcare and early years provision (for providers used in the past week), the use of free hours of childcare[5], the use of Tax-Free Childcare, and the use of tax credits and subsidies;
    • sources of information about, and attitudes towards, childcare and early years provision in the local area; and
    • if applicable, reasons for not using childcare.
  • For one randomly selected child:

    • a detailed record of child attendance in the reference week;
    • reasons for using and views of the main formal provider; and
    • the home learning environment.
  • Classification details:

    • household composition;
    • parents’ education and work details; and
    • provider details.

The survey achieved a 49% response rate among all eligible addresses, which were defined as addresses with at least one child aged 0 to 14 years old living there.  For further details on response see Chapter 6.

 

[4] In the Technical Reports for previous waves of CEYSP this figure only included biological children; this wave, to be more inclusive, it includes biological and adopted children. The figure for biological children alone was 80%.

[5]The official terminology to describe these free hours can change over time e.g. “government funded hours”, “government funded childcare”, “free childcare”, “government funded entitlement to early education”, “free hours” etc. In the CEYSP questionnaire, however, the terminology has always been consistent: “free hours of childcare” (sometimes shortened to just “free hours”). The survey wording is also used in the outputs, including this technical report, so that the survey estimates accord with what parents were asked.

2.3 Defining childcare

The study uses an inclusive definition of childcare and early years provision. Resident parents were asked to include any time that the child was not with them, or their current or ex-partner, or at school. This definition is consistent with the 2019-2021 survey waves but deviates from that used in earlier waves of the survey as described above. 

To remind parents to include all possible people or organisations that may have looked after their children, they were shown the following list:

Formal providers

  • nursery school
  • nursery class attached to a primary or infants’ school
  • reception class at a primary or infants’ school
  • special day school or nursery or unit for children with special educational needs
  • day nursery
  • playgroup or pre-school
  • childminder
  • nanny or au pair
  • baby-sitter who came to home
  • breakfast club or before school club
  • after-school clubs 
  • holiday club/scheme

Informal providers[6]

  • the child’s grandparent(s)
  • the child’s older brother/sister
  • another relative
  • a friend or neighbour

Other

  • provider of sport, art, leisure, tuition or religious activities 
  • other nursery education provider
  • other childcare provider
  1. Prior to the 2023 survey wave, ‘after school clubs and activities’ were grouped and regarded as ‘formal providers’ in the list of childcare providers presented 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.  Further information about this change can be found in the Technical Report for the 2023 wave of the survey.
  2. For the 2024 survey, the category ‘breakfast club’ was expanded to include ‘before school club’ as well i.e. ‘Breakfast clubs or before school clubs’ (as shown above). This change was made to ensure that clubs running before the school day started, which did not offer breakfast, were also accounted for. 
     

[6] Prior to the 2019 wave, the list of informal providers included “my ex-husband/wife/partner/the child’s other parent who does not live in this household”.

Definitions of main formal providers for pre-school children

A short definition for each of the main formal providers for pre-school children is included below. The definitions were not provided to parents in the survey, but these are included here to help the reader differentiate between the most common categories. 

  • nursery school – this is a school in its own right, with most children aged 3 to 5. Sessions normally run for 2 ½ to 3 hours in the morning and/or afternoon;
  • nursery class attached to a primary or infants' school - often a separate unit within the school, with those in the nursery class aged 3 or 4. Sessions normally run for 2½ to 3 hours in the morning and/or afternoon;
  • reception class at a primary or infants' school - this usually provides full-time education during normal school hours, and most children in the reception class are aged 4 or 5;
  • special day school/nursery or unit for children with special educational needs - a nursery, school or unit for children with special educational needs;
  • day nursery - this runs for the whole working day and may be closed for a few weeks in summer, if at all. This may be run by employers, private companies, community/voluntary group or the Local Authority, and can take children who are a few months to 5-years-old; and
  • playgroup or pre-school - the term ‘pre-school’ is commonly used to describe many types of nursery education. For the purposes of this survey, pre-school is used to describe a type of playgroup. This service is often run by a community/voluntary group, parents themselves, or privately. Sessions last up to 4 hours. 

Providers were classified according to the service for which they were being used by parents, for example day-care or early years education. Thus, providers were classified and referred to in analysis according to terminology such as ‘nursery schools’ and ‘day nurseries’, rather than as forms of integrated provision such as Children’s Centres. Reception classes were only included as childcare if it was not compulsory schooling, that is, the child was aged under 5 (or had turned 5 during the current school term).

This inclusive definition of childcare means that parents will have included time when their child was visiting friends or family, at a sport or leisure activity, and so on. The term early years provision covers both ‘care’ for young children and ‘early years education’.

Deciding on the correct classification of the ‘type’ of provider can be complicated for parents. The classifications given by parents were therefore checked with the providers themselves in a separate telephone survey and edited where necessary. Detail about the provider edits can be found in Section 7.3.

2.4 Interpreting the data in the Official Statistics Report and Tables 

Most findings in the Official Statistics Report and Tables relate to one of two levels of analysis:

  • the family level (e.g. proportions of families paying for childcare, parents’ perceptions of childcare provision in their local areas); and
  • the (selected) child level (e.g. parents’ views on the provision received by the selected child from their main childcare provider).

However, for the analyses presented in the data tables formerly contained in Chapters 9 and 10 covering packages of childcare for children aged 0 to 4 and for children aged 5 to 14, the data was restructured to use 'all children' in the household as the base of analysis[7]. This was done to increase the sample size and enable the exploration of packages of childcare received by children in more detail. The ‘all children’ approach was not used for other analyses due to the more extensive data that was collected on the selected child compared to other children in the household.

Weights

A ‘family-level’ weight is applied to family-level analyses. This ensures the findings are representative of families in England with a child aged 0 to 14 in receipt of Child Benefit.

A ‘child-level’ weight is applied to analyses carried out at the (selected) child-level. This weight combines the family-level weight with an adjustment for the probability of the child being randomly selected for the more detailed questions.

Bases 

The data tables show the total number of cases that were analysed (e.g. different types of families, income groups). The total base figures include all the eligible cases (in other words all respondents, or all respondents who were asked the question where it was not asked of all) but usually exclude cases with missing data (codes for ‘don’t know’ or ‘not answered’). Thus, while the base description may be the same across several data tables, the base sizes may differ slightly due to the exclusion of cases with missing data.

Unweighted bases are presented throughout. This is the actual number of parents that responded to a given question for family-level questions, and the actual number of children about whom a response was provided by parents for child-level questions.

In some tables, the column or row bases do not add up to the total base size. This is because some categories might not be included in the table, either because the corresponding numbers are too small to be of interest or the categories are otherwise not useful for the purposes of analysis.

Where a base size contains fewer than 50 respondents, particular care must be taken, as confidence intervals around these estimates will be very wide, and hence the results should be treated with some caution. In tables with bases sizes below 50, these figures are denoted by squared brackets [ ]. 

Percentages

Due to rounding, percentage figures may not add up to 100 per cent. This also applies to questions where more than one answer can be given (‘multi-coded’ questions).

Continuous data

Some Official Statistics Tables summarise parents’ responses to questions eliciting continuous data; for instance, the number of hours of childcare used per week (see Table 1.12 in the Official Statistics Tables) and the amount paid for childcare per week (see Table 4.6 in the Official Statistics Tables). For these data, both median and mean values are included in the data tables, but median values are reported in the Report as they are less influenced by extreme values and are therefore considered a more appropriate measure of central tendency. It should be noted that ‘outlier’ values, those identified as being either impossible or suspect responses, were removed from the dataset prior to data analysis. As such, the extreme values which remain can be considered as valid responses which lie at the far ends of their respective distributions.

Where significance testing has been conducted on continuous data, this has been carried out using mean values rather than medians. This is because the continuous data is subject to ‘rounding’ by respondents, for instance where payments are rounded to the nearest ten pounds, or where times are rounded to the nearest half hour; this rounding can result in similar median values where the underlying distributions are quite different, and testing for differences between means is more appropriate in these instances as it takes the entire distribution into account. However, although mean values are more influenced than median values by extreme values, significance testing on mean values accounts for extreme values by widening the standard error of the mean, which is used in the calculation of the test statistic, thereby reducing the likelihood of finding a significant result.  As such, it is not the case that a significant change will be reported between years or between sub-groups simply due to a small number of respondents reporting an extreme value on a continuous variable.

Statistical significance

Where reported survey results have differed by sub-group, or by survey year, the difference has been tested for significance using the complex samples module in SPSS 28.0 and found to be statistically significant at the 95 per cent confidence level or above. This means that the chance that the difference is due to sampling error, rather than reflecting a real difference between the sub-groups or survey years, is 1 in 20 or less. The complex samples module allows us to take into account sample stratification, clustering, and weighting to correct for non-response bias when conducting significance testing. This means that ‘false positive’ results to significance tests (in other words interpreting a difference as real when it is not) is far less likely than if the standard formulae were used.

Symbols in tables

The symbols below have been used in the tables, and they denote the following:

n/a      this category does not apply (given the base of the table)

[ ]        percentage based on fewer than 50 respondents (unweighted)

*         percentage value of less than 0.5 but greater than zero[8]

0         percentage value of zero


 

[7] Only Table 9.1 Number of providers used for children aged 0 to 4 (by age of child), Table 9.2 Patterns of childcare use for children aged 0 to 4 (by age of child) and Table 10.2 Patterns of childcare use for children aged 5 to 14 (by age of child) have been retained this wave. Each has been renumbered and included in Chapter 1.

[8] Where a cell in a table contains only an asterisk, this denotes a percentage value of less than 0.5 but greater than zero. Asterisks are also shown immediately to the left of certain figures in tables that present the results of logistic regression models. In these cases, asterisks denote the level of significance of the odds ratios in the table as follows: *p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.

 

3. Questionnaire development

3.1 Changes to the questionnaire

Several changes were made to the 2024 Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents questionnaire (compared to the 2023 survey wave) to reflect changes in policy, and to improve the quality of data captured. 

The questionnaire changes are described in the bullet points that follow, in which question names are provided in brackets.

Every wave, certain response codes are added or amended depending on policy context and interests. Data users should check the variable labels when comparing between waves of the CEYSP. 

New questions

Questions about government funded entitlement to early education (free hours)
  • Parents with a child aged 0 to 2 were asked if they were aware of the new 15 hours offer for working parents of children aged 2 (F2yoWP15Aw). These parents were also asked if they were aware of the existing 15 free hours offer for parents receiving some additional forms of government support (F2yoFS15Aw).[9] 
  • Parents who were aware of any of the free hours offers were asked whether they knew that childcare providers offering the free hours can charge for certain extras, such as meals and other consumables (FExAw). Parents who were aware that providers could charge for certain extras were asked whether they knew that they could choose not to receive or pay for these (FExNAw). These questions replaced two others which previously focused on the extra charges but were only asked of parents who were aware of the 30 free hours offer. Further details can be found below. 
  • Parents with a 2-year-old who were aware of the new 15 hours offer for working parents of children aged 2 were asked if they had applied for this (F2yoWPAp), and if not, whether they intended to (F2yoWPApInt). Parents who had not applied for the new offer and did not intend to, were asked if they thought they were eligible for it (F2yoWPApEg). Parents who believed they were ineligible for the free hours were asked why they thought this (F2yoWPApEgWy). Parents who believed they were eligible for the free hours, but had not applied for the free hours and did not intend to, were asked why they hadn’t applied (F2yoWPApWyN).
  • Parents with a 2-year-old who received free hours in the reference week were asked whether those free hours were received under the new 15 hours offer for working parents, or under the existing 15 hours offer for parents receiving some additional forms of government support (FreeHTyp2yo).
  • Parents with a 2-year-old who were aware of either of the 2-year-old free hours offers (i.e. the new 15 hours offer for working parents or the existing 15 hours offer for parents receiving some additional forms of government support) but did not use any free hours in the reference week were asked whether they believed they were eligible for either of the offers (Free2yoEg2).[10]
  • Parents who received any free hours in the reference week and were aware that providers could charge for certain extras were asked whether they had ever been dissuaded from applying to a specific childcare provider because of the possibility that they would need to pay for such extras (FExStpPr). These parents were also asked whether they had ever been dissuaded from applying for more free hours at an existing provider because of the possibility that they would need to pay for these extras (FExStpMr).
  • Parents who received free hours under the new 15 hours offer for working parents of children aged 2 were asked whether receiving the free hours had any impact on their work (F2yoImpWk, F2yoImpHr, F2yoImpFx); their family finances (F2yoImpFn); and the overall quality of their family life (F2yoImpFL).
Questions about how parents received help or support from Family Hubs, Children’s Centres, Children and Family Centres or Family Centres
  • Parents who had received any help or support from a local Family Hub or Children’s Centre for the selected child were asked whether they had received this in person or online (HLCCenSuppTyp), and how often they had received any help or support from their local Family Hub or Children’s Centre for the selected child (HLCCenSuppOf).
A question about the ease of finding a childcare provider that met the child’s needs 
  • Parents who used specific main formal childcare providers[11] in the reference week were asked to think about the time shortly before the selected child obtained a place at their main formal provider. They were then asked how easy or difficult they found it to identify a provider that met the selected child’s needs, regardless of whether a place was available (MPrOkEase).
A question about parents’ perceptions of the information they have been able to obtain about the care their main provider offers
  • Parents who used specific main formal childcare providers[12] in the reference week were asked how they rated the overall information that they had been able to obtain about the care that the main provider provides for the selected child (MPrInfo).
Questions about waiting lists
  • Parents with a selected child aged 0-4 who used one or more specific main formal childcare providers[13] in the reference week were asked whether the child was on a waiting list for a place at a different formal provider which they would take up as soon as it became available (MPrWtLt).
  • Parents whose child was on a waiting list were asked what type of provider they were on a waiting list for (MPrWtLtTyp) and how long they had been on the waiting list for (MPrWtLtMths).
  • Parents with a selected child aged 0-4 who did not use any of the specific main formal childcare providers[14] in the reference week were asked whether the child was on a waiting list at one of the specific formal providers which they would take up as soon as it became available (WtLtNoneYN) and if so, they were asked what type of provider they were on a waiting list for (WtLtNoneTyp) and how long they had been on the waiting list for (WtLtNoneMths).
A question about parental awareness of the duty of local authorities
  • All parents were asked whether they were aware that their Local Authority has a duty to ensure adequate childcare availability for children aged 0-14 to support parents who are working, studying or training for employment (LocalAware).
Questions about breakfast clubs or before school clubs
  • Parents who used breakfast clubs or before school clubs in the reference week were asked whether the opening hours enabled them to work the hours that best suit their needs (RighthourBF). Parents for whom the hours did not meet their needs were asked whether they would use breakfast clubs or before school clubs if more were made available from 8am in term-time in their local area at the same cost (RighthourNOB).
  • Parents of children aged 5-14 who did not use breakfast clubs or before school clubs in the reference week were asked why they did not make use of them (BreakClub).
Questions about after school clubs
  • Parents who used after school clubs in the reference week were asked whether the opening hours enabled them to work the hours that best suit their needs (RighthourAS). Parents for whom the hours did not meet their needs were asked whether they would use after school clubs if more were made available until 6pm during term time in their local area at the same cost, (RighthourNOA).
  • Parents of children aged 5-14 who did not use after school clubs in the reference week were asked why they did not make use of them (AfterClub).
Questions about parental preference concerning childminder registration 
  • All parents who were aware that childminders can be registered with Ofsted and/or Childminder Agencies were asked whether they would have a preference about the registration of the childminder (RegCMPref), and if so, what their preferred registration would be (RegCMPref2).
A question about the ease of finding information related to suitable providers for children with a long-term illness, disability or special educational needs 
  • Parents with one or more children who had a long-term illness or disability affecting their daily life, or a special educational need for which they received support, were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with a statement about ease in finding out information about childcare providers that could cater for each child’s additional needs (DisSENInfo).
A question about whether parents of children with a long-term illness, disability or special educational needs had paid any money to providers to support the child’s needs
  • Parents with one or more children who had a long-term illness or disability affecting their daily life, or a special educational need for which they receive support, were asked whether they had paid any money to childcare providers[15] to support each child’s additional needs in the reference week (DisSENExp).

Deleted questions

The following questions were removed from the 2024 survey:

Two questions about working from home
  • (WFHome) This question asked parents in work how often they worked from home during the reference week. This question was added in 2021. 
  • (WFHomeSp) This question asked parents with a partner in work how often their partner worked from home during the reference week. This question was also added in 2021.
Three questions about childminders
  • (RegCMQ) This question asked parents who knew their childminder was registered with Ofsted or a Childminder Agency whether they were aware of their childminder’s quality rating. This question was added in 2023. 
  • (RegCMdec) This question asked parents who knew their childminder’s quality rating whether it influenced their decision to use that childminder. This question was also added in 2023. 
  • (CMNotUse) This question asked parents of 0-4 year olds who used a formal provider other than a childminder in the reference week why they had chosen not to use a childminder. This question was added in 2023. 
One question about awareness of the government funded entitlement to early education (free hours)
  • (F2yoAw) This question was added in 2018. It asked parents with a 2-year-old whether they were aware of the 15 hours offer for parents receiving some additional forms of government support. This question was removed and replaced with F2yoFS15Aw and F2yoWP15Aw focusing on the two different offers available. 
Two questions about additional charges from childcare providers
  • (F30ExAw) This question was added in 2018. It asked parents who were aware of the 30 free hours offer for working parents of children aged 3 to 4 whether they knew that childcare providers offering the free hours could charge for certain extras. This question was removed and replaced with FExAw, so that parents who were aware of any of the free hours offers were asked about the extra charges. 
  • (F30ExNAw) This question was also added in 2018. It asked parents who were: (i) aware of the 30 free hours offer for working parents of children aged 3 to 4, and (ii) who knew that childcare providers offering the free hours could charge for certain extras, knew that they did not have to receive or pay for these extras. This question was removed and replaced with FExNAw.
One question about parents’ perceived eligibility for the government funded entitlement to early education (free hours)
  • (Free2yoEg) This question was added in 2022. It asked parents with a 2-year-old who were aware of the 15 free hours offer for parents receiving some additional forms of government support, but who had not applied for it, whether they thought they were eligible for it. This question was removed and replaced with Free2yoEg2. 
One question about whether providers only accepted payment online
  • (PayOnline) This question asked parents who used specific types of formal childcare[16] and who said they paid some money to a childcare provider in the reference week whether the provider only accepted payment through a dedicated online or app-based Payment Provider. This question was first added in 2020, removed in 2022, reinstated in 2023 and removed again for 2024.
Two questions about parent’s perceptions of the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on their children’s social and educational development
  • (CVHarmSED) This question asked parents of school aged children to what extent they felt that the Coronavirus pandemic had harmed their child’s social and educational development. This question was added in 2023. 
  • (CVEffectSED) This question asked parents of school aged children who felt that the pandemic had harmed the social and educational development of their child to what extent they felt their child was still feeling the effects of this. This question was added in 2023.

Amended questions

There were some questions that had substantive amendments made for this wave. For example, marital status and questions mentioning amended code referring to breakfast clubs. There were other questions that had minor amendments. All amendments are summarised below.

Question about marital status
  • For 2024, the question on marital status was updated to follow the latest ONS harmonised standard guidance[17] for collecting marital and civil partnership status in UK surveys. This meant that there was a small amendment to the question wording, and the response options were separated to form nine codes specific to each marital status (rather than five as in previous waves). 
  • The question wording was changed from ‘‘Can I just check your current legal marital status…’ to ‘What is your legal marital or registered civil partnership status’?
  • The response codes were amended as shown in the table below.
Original response codeNew response code
1Single, that is never married1Never married and never legally registered in a civil partnership
2Married / in a civil partnership and living with your husband / wife / civil partner2Married
3In a legally registered civil partnership
3Married / in a civil partnership and separated from your husband / wife / civil partner4Separated but still legally married
5Separated but still legally in a civil partnership
4Divorced / civil partnership dissolved 6Divorced
7Formerly in a civil partnership which is now legally dissolved
5Widowed8Widowed
9A surviving member of a legally registered civil partnership
Questions about childcare providers used in the reference week 
  • As a result of the change made to the code ‘Breakfast clubs or before school clubs’ reported in section 2.3, the question wording and showcards were amended at several of the questions that ask about childcare providers. These have been summarised in the table below.
Questions amendedSpecific changes implemented 
IntCarB, CareWB, ProvATB, CareYB, CareYN, CareLik, Carehol, ProvHol, TaxFCSWhat, MprIntro, CCPlaces, CCDis, CCFlex, CCwork, Usemore, CCimpTT

Addition of 'or before school club’ to 'Breakfast club’ on the showcards.

CareWBCkChange to the question wording ‘Breakfast clubs or before school clubs’ replaced ‘Breakfast club’.
Questions about government funded entitlement to early education (free hours)
  • (FreeH) This question asks parents whether they received any free hours in the reference week. The routing was adjusted to accommodate the two new awareness questions relating to the offers available to parents of 2-year-olds, and to remove the reference to the previous awareness question (F2yoAw) which has been deleted. 
  • (F30WhyN) This question asks parents with a child aged 3 to 4 who is receiving free hours under the 15 free hours offer why they didn’t receive their hours under the 30 free hours offer. A new response code was added (‘My child(ren) need special care’) as this was highlighted as a potential reason why more free hours were not sought by some parents.
  • (FreeXt) This question asks parents who claimed some, but not all, of the free hours, why they didn’t receive any more free hours. The routing was expanded to account for parents of 2-year-olds who used some, but not all, of the 15 free hours their child was entitled to, and to include parents of children aged 3 to 4 who did not receive all the free hours they were entitled to. Five new response codes were also added as potential reasons why parents were unable to use all the free hours their child was entitled to. 
  • (FreeWhy) This question asks parents who are aware of either of the free hours offers for children aged 3 to 4, but did not claim any free hours, why their child/children did not receive any free hours of childcare. Four new response codes were added as they were highlighted as potential reasons why parents may choose not to use free hours. 
  • (Free2yoWhy) This question asks parents who believe their child is eligible for either of the free hours offers for children aged 2, but did not claim any free hours, why their child/children did not receive free hours of childcare. The routing was adjusted to accommodate the new eligibility question (Free2yoEg2), which accounts for the free hours offers available to parents with a child aged 2, and to remove the reference to the previous eligibility question (Free2yoEg), which has been deleted. The new response codes that were included at FreeWhy were also included at this question. 
Questions about Family Hubs, Children’s Centres, Children and Family Centres or Family Centres
  • (CCFHServ) This question asks parents which services they have accessed through their local Family Hub or Children’s Centre. The response code ‘Parenting and relationship support services’ was separated into ‘parenting support services' and ‘relationship support services’ to ensure that the different types of support could be analysed separately.
Questions about the reasons why parents chose their main childcare provider 
  • (WhyCA) This question asks parents who have a main childcare provider why they chose that provider. Two response codes were removed as they were very rarely selected by parents in previous waves, whilst one new code was added. The wording of one other code (referring to the child being looked after at home) was amended.
  • (WhyCB) This question asks parents who report an informal provider as their main childcare provider why they chose that provider. The same changes were made as at WhyCA.
Questions about whether childcare arrangements help parents to work
  • (CWrkCar) This question asks parents who are in work and have a partner in the household whether there are childcare arrangements that help them to work. Two new response codes were added at this question to accommodate the free hours offers that may be taken up by parents of 2-year-olds.
  • (LWrkCar) This question asks parents who are in work and do not have a partner in the household whether there are childcare arrangements that help them to work. The same changes were made as at CWrkCar.
Questions about the reasons why parents are not working
  • (CNoWrk) This question asks parents who are not in work and have a working partner in the household why they are not working. A new response code was added (‘I have to look after my child who needs special care’) as this was highlighted as a potential reason why parents may not be working.
  • (LNoWrk) This question asks parents who are not in work and have either a non-working partner or no partner in the household why they are not working. The same code was added as at CNoWrk.
  • (NoWrkCc) This question asks parents who are not in work and not long-term sick or on maternity leave if there are any childcare-based reasons why they are not working. A new response code was added (‘I cannot find childcare that caters for my child’s long-term illness/disability/special needs’) as this was highlighted as a potential reason why some parents may not be working.

[9] As of April 2024, there were two offers relating to free hours available to parents of 2-year-olds, so two separate awareness questions were created to replace F2yoAw, which only asked about awareness of the offer for parents receiving some additional forms of government support.

[10] As of April 2024, there were two offers relating to free hours available to parents of 2-year-olds, so this question, which asked about eligibility across both offers was created to replace Free2yoEg, which only asked about eligibility for the offer for parents receiving some additional forms of government support.

[11] A nursery school, nursery class, special day school or nursery, day nursery, play group or pre-school, childminder, or other nursery education provider.

[12] Ibid. 

[13] Ibid. 

[14] Ibid. 

[15] A nursery school, nursery class, reception class, special day school or nursery, day nursery, play group or pre-school, childminder, nanny or au pair, babysitter, breakfast club or before school club, after school club, holiday club or other nursery education provider.

[16] A nursery school, nursery class, reception class, special day school, day nursery, playgroup, breakfast club, after school club, or holiday club.

[17] https://analysisfunction.civilservice.gov.uk/policy-store/marital-or-partnership-status/#telephone-and-face-to-face-mode

3.2 Questionnaire content

The questionnaire was structured as follows: 

  • Household composition, and identification of the selected child.
  • Household’s use of childcare in the reference week, and the past year.
  • Household’s awareness and use of the 15 and 30 free hours offers.
  • Household’s childcare costs, for providers used in the reference week.
  • Household’s receipt of Tax Credits, awareness of Universal Credit, and awareness and use of Tax-Free Childcare.
  • The impact of support received on employment and family finances.
  • Selected child’s attendance record (the day-by-day ‘diary’ of childcare use in the reference week).
  • Selected child’s experiences at their main provider, reasons for choosing the main provider, and reasons for the patterns of provision used.
  • Selected child’s use of childcare during school holiday periods.
  • Selected child’s home learning environment.
  • Respondent’s attitudes towards childcare in the local area.
  • Respondent’s employment history.
  • Respondent’s and child(ren)’s demographic characteristics.
  • Consent for follow-up research and contact details for pre-school providers.
  • Partner’s employment history and qualifications.

4. Sampling

4.1 Survey population

The survey population was children aged 0 to 14 living in private residential accommodation[18] in England. This survey population mirrors previous survey waves, except for the 2019 wave, for which the survey population was children aged 0 to 4[19].

Although the sampling units were children, the interview for each selected child was conducted with an appropriate adult (defined as an adult within the child’s household with ‘main or shared responsibility for making decisions about the child’s childcare’).


 

[18] Children living in communal establishments such as children’s homes are excluded.

[19] This was to allow more in-depth analyses of the childcare-related experiences of pre-school children. Future waves may shift the focus back to children aged 0 to 4, dependant on analytical and policy requirements.

4.2 Sample frames

Up until the 2014-15 wave of the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents, children were sampled exclusively from the Child Benefit Register (CBR). This was a highly efficient approach given the near universal take-up of Child Benefit among parents of children aged 0 to 14 in England, and hence the near total coverage of the sample population by the sample frame. In 2013 this coverage was damaged by the introduction of the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC), the effect of which has been to decrease the likelihood that children born since 2013 to higher income parents (those where one or both partners earn £60,000 or more per year) are listed on the CBR.

DfE commissioned Ipsos to write a report (opens in a new tab) investigating the potential impact of this change, and to explore potential solutions. The report found that persisting with the CBR as the sole sampling frame would introduce non-coverage bias that would reduce both the accuracy of survey estimates, and the ability to compare changes in estimates over time. The report recommended that a sample of children should be drawn from the CBR, as per previous survey waves, but should be supplemented with a sample of respondents to the Family Resources Survey (FRS) who had agreed to be recontacted for the purposes of future research. The FRS respondents were those with a child (or children) who had not made a claim for Child Benefit, or who had made a claim for Child Benefit but had subsequently opted out of receiving Child Benefit due to having a high income. These families would have little or no chance of being selected in the CBR sample.

Since the 2017 wave, the survey has used a dual-frame approach, sampling from both the CBR and the FRS.

Selection of the CBR sample

The sample of children from the CBR was selected by HMRC from all children in England that would be aged 0 to 14 on the first day of fieldwork (22 April 2024) for whom a Child Benefit claim had been made.

A small number of children were excluded from the sampling frame before selection took place. The exclusions were made according to HMRC procedures and reasons included: death of a child, cases where the child has been taken into care or put up for adoption, cases where the child does not live at the same address as the claimant and cases where there has been any correspondence by the recipient with the Child Benefit Centre (because the reason for correspondence cannot be ascertained and may be sensitive).

The sample of children was selected in two stages: selection of Primary Sample Units (PSUs) and selection of individual children within each PSU. Ipsos randomly selected 449 PSUs, plus an additional 449 PSUs that could be used as a reserve sample if needed. The PSUs were based on postcode sectors. HMRC provided a full list of postcode sectors in England with counts for each of the number of children on Child Benefit records aged 0 to 14 to the nearest five. To reduce clustering, postcode sectors containing fewer than 250 children were grouped with neighbouring postcode sectors. The list of grouped postcode sectors was stratified by region, population density, proportion of households in managerial professional and intermediate occupations, and proportion of the population that were unemployed. A size measure was calculated for each PSU based on the population of children, and sample points were selected with probability proportionate to this size measure.

At the second stage, prior to the start of fieldwork, 30 children per PSU were selected randomly by HMRC from the selected PSUs (both the 449 main PSUs and 449 reserve PSUs). A list of all eligible children aged 0 to 14 in the PSU was created and was sorted by postcode and Child Benefit number to help to avoid children from the same household being selected.

The sample was issued in two separate ‘tranches’ across the fieldwork period. As response during fieldwork was lower than initially assumed, a random subset of 30 PSUs was drawn from the reserve sample, such that 479 (rather than 449) PSUs were issued in total. This ensured that the target number of interviews could be met.

The full sample of 479 PSUs x 30 children meant that a sample of 14,370 addresses were available from which to achieve the target of 5,750 interviews. 

Each sampled child was the ‘selected child’ about whom detailed child-specific questions in the interview was asked. In certain instances, the questionnaire script re-selected this child, from among all children in the household, at the start of the interview. This occurred in the following instances:

  1. Where the selected child was no longer living at the sampled address (for instance, where the family had moved address without informing HMRC, meaning that their address listed on the CBR was out of date). In these instances, as long as there was a child aged 0 to 14 living at the address at the point that the interviewer made contact, the interviewer sought an interview with one of the parents of this child (or children), with the questionnaire script randomly choosing one child aged 0 to 14 in the household to become the selected child (where there was more than one). This occurred at 621 households.[20]
  2. Where the selected child was living at the address, and a child had been born into the household between the date that the sample was drawn and the date of the interview. As there was approximately a gap of two months between the sample being drawn and the start of fieldwork, children that were born during this time were not represented in the sample of children drawn from Child Benefit records. To account for this, in households where a child had been born since the sample was drawn, the questionnaire script re-selected the child that was to be the focus of the child-specific questions from all children (including the newborn child) in the household. This re-selection occurred at 250 households.
  3. Where the selected child was living at the address, and where the number of children in the household (excluding children born since the sample was drawn) was found to be greater than the number of children living in the household according to Child Benefit records, and where Child Benefit was received by some but not all children in the household. In these instances, there was a (non-newborn) child in the household that did not have a chance of selection at the sampling stage, as said child was not on the Child Benefit database. Such instances may reflect a child in the household for whom the parents had decided not to claim, an error on the Child Benefit database, or a family event such as adoption. In these households, the questionnaire script re-selected the child that was to be the focus of the child-specific questions from all children in the household. This re-selection occurred at 53 households.

Selection of the FRS sample

The sample of FRS respondents (n = 517) was selected by DWP from households who had taken part in the 2022/23 FRS survey, who had consented to be re-contacted for the purposes of further research at the time of their FRS interview, and who had a child (or children) born since 7th January 2013 (the date that the High Income Child Benefit Charge was introduced) for whom they either:

  • had not made a claim for Child Benefit, or 
  • had opted out of receiving Child Benefit payments due to having a high income. 
  1. Those who had opted out of receiving Child Benefit were included in the sample to ensure that all children in FRS households that could not be covered via the CBR were captured. Specifically, while families opting out of receiving Child Benefit remain listed on the CBR and are therefore available to be sampled, their contact details are more likely to be out of date as these families have little reason to inform HMRC of a change of address if they move, and as a result, they are likely to be under-represented in the CBR achieved sample. The FRS sample therefore boosts the sample of households that have opted out of Child Benefit as they would otherwise be under-represented in a sample selected from the CBR alone. 


[20]Prior to the 2019 wave, the interviewer was instead required to attempt to trace the selected child to his or her new address and conduct the interview there.

5. Fieldwork

5.1 Briefings

Before fieldwork started, the research and field teams provided comprehensive training to all interviewers through pre-recorded video modules. These were available online for the interviewers to complete in their own time. After each module, interviewers had to answer several ‘quiz’ questions, to ensure they understood the content. Following the completion of the briefing sessions, the field and research teams hosted weekly online “Q&A” drop-in sessions, allowing interviewers to ask questions and seek clarification.

The briefings covered: 

  • an introduction to the study and its aims (including the importance of the survey, along with examples of how the data has been used to develop and understand the impact of childcare and early years policies); 
  • an explanation of the samples and procedures for contacting sampled parents, and receiving contact from sampled parents to schedule interviews; 
  • detailed descriptions of the survey materials; 
  • full definitions of formal and informal childcare; 
  • a comprehensive section on the survey questionnaire (including differences in administration between the survey modes) and 
  • the main changes made to the survey compared to the previous wave (including the increase to the age range of children sampled for the FRS addresses[21] as well as new questions that had been added for this wave of the survey).

The briefing sessions also covered all salient points on conducting research with parents and how best to secure participation, as well as potential sensitivities within the survey, and practical information for interviewers.


[21]All children born since 7th January 2013 (the date that the High Income Child Benefit Charge was introduced) were eligible for the FRS sample, therefore children aged 0 to 11 years were eligible in 2024, whereas the previous year only children aged 0 to 10 years were eligible.

5.2 Contact procedures

Letters and leaflet

An ‘opt-out’ letter introducing the survey was mailed in April 2024, prior to the start of fieldwork. This was addressed to (for the CBR sample) the named benefit recipient of the child sampled from the CBR, and (for the FRS sample) the adult who had taken part in the FRS survey and had consented to be recontacted for further research. It described the survey and the remote interviewing modes available, including how each mode would work in practice. 

The letter also provided details about how the household could opt-out of the survey, should they not wish to participate. Opt-out methods included an online ‘participant portal’ through which parents could opt-out of the survey (or alternatively request a specific (remote) mode of interview). Parents who requested a mode of interview via the portal were asked to provide their telephone number (in the case of a telephone interview) as well as their email address (in the case of a Microsoft Teams interview). All households, except those opting out, were issued for interview. 

Interviewers sent a separate ‘advance letter’ to each household in their assignment shortly before making their calls. This letter let parents know they should shortly expect a visit from an interviewer. Enclosed with the advance letter was a ‘survey leaflet’, which provided further details about the study.

Interviewer visits

For the CBR sample, interviewers were provided with the selected child’s name, address, and the name of the person in the household listed as the recipient of Child Benefit for that child. An interview could be conducted with an adult with ‘main or shared responsibility for making decisions about childcare for the selected child’. This adult did not have to be the Child Benefit recipient.

In cases where the selected child had moved from the sampled address, interviewers sought to determine whether a child aged 0 to 14 currently lived at the address. If so, the address was deemed to be eligible, and the interviewer introduced the survey to the current residents, who would not have received any advance communications about the survey. Interviewers then sought to conduct an interview with a parent of the child (or children) aged 0 to 14 at the address. If the interviewer was unable to identify whether a child aged 0 to 14 lived at the address (for instance, where the current residents refused to provide this information), the address was deemed to be of unknown eligibility, and no interview was sought. If the interviewer determined that no child aged 0 to 14 lived at the address, the address was deemed to be ineligible, and no interview was sought[22].

For the FRS sample, interviewers were provided with the FRS respondent’s name, address, and telephone number (if available). An interview could be conducted with an adult with ‘main or shared responsibility for making decisions about childcare for the child or children aged 0 to 11 (born since 7th January 2013) in the household’.

For both the CBR and FRS sample a ‘knock-to-nudge’ approach was used, which involved interviewers calling on previously written-to households and encouraging them to participate in the survey. If a parent had requested a telephone or Microsoft Teams interview via the participant portal, the interviewer would make contact by telephone first to arrange the interview. However, if a parent had not been in touch via the participant portal, the interviewer visited the sampled address to try and arrange a face-to-face interview.

Interviewers were provided with an ‘Impact Card’ to use, at their discretion, to maximise co-operation across all issued addresses. This Impact Card laid out some of the ways in which the data from the survey series has been used to improve the services the Government provides to parents.

For both the CBR and FRS samples, an interview only took place where an adult responsible for the child(ren) living in the household consented to be interviewed.

[22] These procedures mark a deviation from those followed prior to 2019, when, if the selected child had moved from the sampled address, the interviewer attempted to trace the child’s new address and conduct an interview there. Due to the rising proportion of children found to have moved from the address listed on the CBR (from 13% of addresses issued to interviewers in the 2010 survey wave, to 22% in the 2018 survey wave), combined with the difficulties of tracing new addresses in the field, from the 2019 wave onwards, the sampling unit became the address, rather than the child.

5.3 Interviewing

Interviews were conducted via three different modes, from which parents could choose. Please refer to section 6.3 for the proportion of interviews conducted in each mode. All three modes were conducted by Ipsos’s face-to-face interviewer panel:

  • Face-to-face interviewing (in-home with showcards); 
  • Telephone interviewing (with the respondent using a hard copy of the showcards, or viewing the showcards online); and 
  • Microsoft Teams interviewing (with the respondent viewing the interviewer’s survey script on their own computer, tablet, or other device, and choosing response codes from the screen for questions that would ordinarily use a showcard).

Face-to-face in-home interviewing was the main mode used to carry out the interviews in 2024. Interviewers were advised to use this mode as often as possible to maximise the depth of information that could be collected from respondents. 

Telephone interviewing took place with the respondent either using paper showcards or looking at the showcards online. At the start of the telephone interview the interviewer directed the parent to have the showcards to hand or to bring them up on a screen (for instance a PC, laptop, tablet, or even a smartphone) and to refer to them during the interview.

For Microsoft Teams interviewing, the parent needed to have internet access. The interviewer sent an email invitation link to join the interview at the scheduled time. The interviewer shared their computer screen with the parent over Microsoft Teams, so the respondent could see the possible answer options at relevant questions and choose the appropriate response. This mode was not used frequently for 2024 fieldwork. 

In situations where respondents could not speak English well enough to complete the interview, interviewers were able to use another household member to assist as an interpreter, or another interviewer in the area who was able to speak their language was asked to conduct the interview. If translation was not possible, the interview was not carried out.

The interviews lasted for a mean of 46 minutes, and a median of 42 minutes. The length of the interview varied by survey mode, as follows:

  • Face-to-face: mean of 44 minutes, median of 40 minutes;
  • Telephone: mean of 52 minutes, median of 48 minutes;
  • Microsoft Teams: mean of 55 minutes, median of 45 minutes.

6. Response

6.1 Outcomes and response for CBR sample

There were 14,370 children sampled from the Child Benefit Register (CBR) – 30 for each of the 479 Primary Sampling Units (PSUs). Opt-out letters were sent to 14,311 addresses, leading to opt outs from 916 addresses. These addresses were removed from the sample, and a total of 13,395 addresses were issued to interviewers, who sent advance letters before starting their calls.

The overall response rate for the CBR sample was 49 per cent (shown in Table A.2). This figure reflects the proportion of productive interviews across all eligible addresses. The full fieldwork outcomes are shown in Table A.1. Table A.2 then presents various response metrics for the CBR sample, showing trend data since the 2009 survey.

The overall response rate increased in 2024 compared to 2023 at 48 per cent, but the response was still lower than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (a fall from 62 per cent in 2019). The response rate for 2024 was expected to be higher than in 2023 due to an increased acceptance of in-home interviewing. Remote interviewing modes (on telephone and Microsoft Teams) were only permitted if parents did not want to be interviewed face-to-face as these remote modes are more likely to suffer from broken appointments and poorer response. 

Table A.1: Survey response figures, Child Benefit Register sample

Outcome category

Of sampled

Of issued

Detailed outcomes

N

%

%

PSUs sampled 

479

Addresses sampled per PSU

30

Total addresses sampled, of which…

14,370

TS 

100%

     Identified as duplicate or non-residential 

     addresses

59

NE

0%

     Opting out 

916 

 R 

Addresses issued to interviewers, of which…

 13,395 

93%

100%

     Contact with responsible adult, of which…

 11,429 

80%

85%

          Child at address, of which…

 9,145 

64%

68%

                       Refusal

3,236

R

23%

24%

                       Other unproductive

395

O

3%

3%

                       Interview – lone parent

1,350

I

9%

10%

                       Interview – partner interview in person

-

I

0%

0%

                       Interview – partner interview by proxy

3,099

I

22%

23%

                       Interview – unproductive partner

1,065

I

7%

8%

          No child at address

2,108

NE

15%

16%

          Unknown if child at address

176

UE

1%

1%

    No contact with responsible adult, of which…

1,324

9%

10%

          Child at address

142

NC

1%

1%

          Unknown if child at address

1,182

UE

8%

9%

    Deadwood (address vacant, demolished, derelict,
    non-residential, or holiday home)

642

NE

4%

5%

Calculation

Of sampled

Of issued

Summary of outcomes

N

%

%

Total sample (TS)

 14,370 

 TS 

100%

Eligible sample (ES)

 11,561 

 TS-NE 

80%

86%

Interview (I)

 5,514 

 I 

38%

41%

Non-contact (NC)

 142 

 NC 

1%

1%

Refusal (R)

 4,152 

 R 

29%

24%

Other non-response (O)

 395 

 O 

3%

3%

Unknown eligibility (UE)

 1,358 

 UE 

9%

10%

Not eligible (NE)

 2,809 

 NE 

20%

21%

Note: 

From the 2019 survey onwards, the sampling unit for the CBR sample was the address. In cases where the selected child had moved from the sampled address, interviewers determined whether a child aged 0 to 4 currently lived at the address. If so, the address was considered eligible, and an interview was sought with a parent of the child (or children) aged 0 to 4 at the address; if not, the addresses was deemed ineligible. Prior to the 2019 survey, the sampling unit was the child. In cases where the selected child had moved from the sampled address, the child was still considered eligible, and the interviewer attempted to trace the child to his or her new address and conduct an interview there. The total number of addresses issued to interviewers is the sum of addresses per PSU minus a small number of duplicate addresses, which were removed prior to being issued to the field.

Table A.2: Survey response metrics, Child Benefit Register sample

Survey year

2009

2010-11

2011-12

2012-13

2014-15

2017

2018

2019

2021

20222023

2024

Response metric

Calculation

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Overall response rate

I / 
(I+R+NC+O+(eu*UE))

52

57

58

59

57

52

51

62

38

48

48

49

Eligibility rate (eu)

I+NC+R+O / I+NC+R+O+NE

98

97

98

97

97

97

97

79

84

85

82

78

Unadj. response rate

I / TS

51

55

57

57

55

50

49

49

32

41

39

38

Co-operation rate

I / (I+R+O)

67

76

72

73

70

68

71

73

53

60

61

60

Contact rate

I+R+O / (I+R+NC+O+(eu*UE))

77

77

80

80

80

75

72

90

77

87

88

89

Refusal rate

R / (I+R+NC+O+(eu*UE))

24

18

22

21

23

24

22

23

37

34

34

37

Notes:

The response categories used in the calculations of the response metrics are as follows: Total sample (TS); Interview (I); Non-contact (NC); Refusal (R); Other non-response (O); Unknown eligibility (UE); Not eligible (NE); Eligibility rate (eu). Details of the specific fieldwork outcomes contained within these response categories can be found in Table A.1.
From the 2019 survey onwards, the sampling unit for the CBR sample was the address. In cases where the selected child had moved from the sampled address, interviewers determined whether a child aged 0 to 4 currently lived at the address. If so, the address was considered eligible, and an interview was sought with a parent of the child (or children) aged 0 to 4 at the address; if not, the addresses was deemed ineligible. Prior to the 2019 survey, the sampling unit was the child. In cases where the selected child had moved from the sampled address, the child was still considered eligible, and the interviewer attempted to trace the child to his or her new address and conduct an interview there.

6.2 Outcomes and response for FRS sample

There were 517 addresses sampled from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). Opt-out letters were sent to 514 addresses, leading to opt outs from 41 addresses. These addresses were removed from the sample, and a total of 473 addresses were issued to interviewers, who sent advance letters before starting their calls.

The overall response rate for the FRS sample was 54 per cent (Table A.4). This figure reflects the proportion of productive interviews across all eligible addresses. The full fieldwork outcomes are shown in Table A.3. Table A.4 then presents various response metrics for the FRS sample, showing trend data since the 2017 survey.

Table A.3: Survey response figures, Family Resources Survey sample

Outcome category

Of sampled

Of issued

Detailed outcomes

N

%

%

Total addresses sampled, of which…

517

TS

100%

     Identified as non-residential address

3

O

1%

     Opting out

 41 

R

8%

Total addresses issued to interviewers, of which…

473 

91%

100%

   No child at address

30

NE

6%

6%

   Respondent moved

31

NC

6%

7%

   Contact made, but not with sampled parent

4

NC

1%

1%

   Refusal

93

R

18%

20%

   Other unproductive

18

O

3%

4%

   Unknown eligibility

34

UE

7%

7%

   Interview – lone parent

14

I

3%

3%

   Interview – partner interview in person

 -   

I

0%

0%

   Interview – partner interview by proxy

202

I

39%

43%

   Interview – unproductive partner

47

I

9%

10%

Calculation

Of sampled

Of issued

Summary of outcomes

%

%

Total sample (TS)

 517 

 TS 

100%

Eligible sample (ES)

 487 

 TS-NE 

94%

103%*

Interview (I)

 263 

 I 

51%

56%

Non-contact (NC)

 35 

 NC 

7%

7%

Refusal (R)

 134 

 R 

26%

20%

Other non-response (O)

 21 

 O 

4%

4%

Unknown eligibility (UE)

 34 

 UE 

7%

7%

Not eligible (NE)

 30 

 NE 

6%

6%

Notes:

*A larger number of cases were removed before the sample was issued to interviewers than were found to be Not Eligible (NE) in field and that means the total eligible sample exceeds the issued sample, resulting in a figure higher than 100%.

Table A.4: Survey response metrics, Family Resources Survey sample

Survey year

2017

2018

2019

2021

2022

2023

2024

Response metric

Calculation

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Overall response rate

I / (I+R+NC+O+(eu*UE))

39

52

52

35

42

55

54

Eligibility rate (eu)

I+NC+R+O / I+NC+R+O+NE

100

100

95

89

89

90

94

Unadjusted response rate

I / TS

39

52

50

31

37

49

51

Co-operation rate

I / (I+R+O)

55

66

75

52

53

66

63

Contact rate

I+R+O / (I+R+NC+O+(eu*UE))

69

78

69

67

79

83

86

Refusal rate

R / (I+R+NC+O+(eu*UE))

31

23

14

26

35

21

28

Notes:

The response categories used in the calculations of the response metrics are as follows: Total sample (TS); Interview (I); Non-contact (NC); Refusal (R); Other non-response (O); Unknown eligibility (UE); Not eligible (NE); Eligibility rate (eu). Details of the specific fieldwork outcomes contained within these response categories can be found in Table A.1.

6.3 Analyses relating to the change of survey mode

As described in Section 5.3, interviews were conducted in 2024 via three different modes which had originally been adopted due to restrictions on face-to-face interviewing in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The three different modes of interview comprised: face-to-face interviewing in-home; telephone interviewing (with the respondent using paper showcards or viewing the showcards online); and Microsoft Teams interviewing (with the respondent viewing the interviewer’s survey script on their own computer, tablet, or other device, and choosing response codes from the screen for questions that would ordinarily use a showcard).

A ‘knock-to-nudge’ approach was used, whereby interviewers visited sampled addresses and invited parents to take part in the interview via one of these three modes. This design replicates that used in 2023, 2022 and 2021 but differs from earlier waves in the Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents series, for which interviews have been conducted wholly face-to-face. 

The distribution of interviews by survey mode is shown in Table A.5. Just over two thirds of interviews (74%) were conducted face-to-face, 25 per cent were conducted by telephone, with very few (1%) conducted by Microsoft Teams. A slightly higher percentage of interviews were conducted via face-to-face interviewing in 2024 than in 2023 (74% in 2024 compared to 73% in 2023).  

Table A.5: Achieved interviews, by mode of interview

Mode of interview

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

5,777

Face-to-face

74

Telephone

25

Microsoft Teams

1

7. Data processing

7.1 Coding and editing of the data

The survey script ensured that the correct routing was followed throughout the questionnaire and applied range checks, which prevented invalid values from being entered. It also included consistency checks, which prompted interviewers to check answers that were inconsistent with information provided earlier in the interview. These checks allowed interviewers to clarify and query any data discrepancies directly with the respondent and were used extensively throughout the questionnaire.

The data collected during interviews was coded and edited. The main task was the back-coding of ‘other’ answers. This was carried out when over 10 per cent of respondents at a particular question provided an alternative answer to those that were pre-coded; this answer was recorded verbatim during the interview and was coded during the coding stage using the original list of pre-coded responses and sometimes additional codes available to coders only.

Coding was completed by a team of Ipsos coders who were briefed on the survey. If the coder could not resolve a query, this was referred to the research team.

After the dataset was cleaned, the analysis file of question-based and derived variables was set up in SPSS and all questions and answer codes labelled.

7.2 Analysis and significance testing

Data tables showing survey results were created. These were generated in SPSS, and significance testing was undertaken using SPSS version 28.0. The complex samples module in SPSS was used to take into account the impact of stratification, clustering and non-response on the survey estimates. This means that ‘false positive’ results to significance tests (in other words interpreting a difference as real when it is not) is far less likely than if the standard formulae were used.

7.3 Provider edits

Checks were carried out on respondents’ classifications of the pre-school childcare providers they used to improve the accuracy of the classifications. During the main survey, parents were asked to classify the childcare providers they used for their children into types (for example nursery school, playgroup and so on). Given that some parents may have misclassified the pre-school providers they used, Ipsos contacted providers by telephone, where possible, and asked them to classify the type of provision they offered to children of different ages. Telephone interviews with providers were carried out in two separate batches, the first during fieldwork period, and the second immediately after fieldwork had finished.

The following provider types (as classified by parents) were contacted:

  • nursery school
  • nursery class attached to a primary or infants’ school
  • special day school or nursery or unit for children with special educational needs
  • playgroup or pre-school

As in 2023, 2022 and 2021 (but not in previous survey waves), reception classes at primary or infants’ schools and day nurseries were removed from the scope of the provider checks to help to reduce the length of the main survey given the move to the remote interviewing modes. This was deemed appropriate given that parents are correct in their categorisations of these provider types in the great majority of instances (e.g. a 92% accuracy rate for each of these provider types in the 2019 wave).

The process of checking providers started by extracting data from the survey data regarding the providers used and the parents’ classification of them. This was only done in cases where parents had agreed to Ipsos contacting their providers. Each provider remained linked to the parent interview so that they could be compared and later merged with the parent interview data.

Ipsos received information on 1,155 providers from the interview data. Because different parents may have used the same provider, the contact information for that provider was potentially repeated. Ipsos de-duplicated the list of providers, which was done both manually and automatically. In total, 165 providers were duplicates and were therefore removed from the checks.

A full list of 990 providers was generated, and telephone interviewers were briefed. Interviews with providers were approximately seven minutes long, and covered the services provided and the age range of the children who attended each service. Interviews were achieved with 670 providers, which constitutes a response rate of 68 per cent.

The classification of pre-school providers was compared between the parent face-to-face interviews and the provider checks telephone interviews, and final classifications were derived by following pre-agreed editing rules. Table A.6 compares parents’ classification of providers with the final classification of providers after the edits had been carried out.

Table A.6: Summary classification of providers before and after provider checks


Parents’ classification

Final classification after all checks

%

%

Base: All formal institutional providers identified by parents for whom contact details were provided by parents

1,155

1,155

Nursery school

52

40

Nursery class attached to a primary or infants’ school

31

27

Reception class

n/a

1

Special day school or nursery or unit for children with SEN

1

1

Day nursery

n/a

18

Playgroup or pre-school

15

12

While these data illustrate the net change in provider classifications before and after the provider edits, they do not show the gross changes; that is, how exactly each provider as classified by parents is ultimately reclassified after the provider edits are complete. This is shown for those provider mentions which were subjected to the provider edits (i.e. where provider contact details were provided and an interview with the provider was sought) in Table A.7.

This table shows that parents were most accurate when categorising special day schools or nurseries or units for children with special educational needs (92% accuracy), followed by nursery classes (82% accuracy). Parents were least accurate where they classified a provider as a nursery school – this proved accurate in 64 per cent of cases, with 32 per cent of these classifications ultimately proving to be a day nursery, and two per cent a nursery class.

Table A.7: Detailed classification of providers before and after provider checks 

Parents’ classifications (bold) and final classifications (not bold)

Per provider

Of total

N

%

%

Nursery school

605

100

52

Nursery school

388

64

34

Nursery Class

14

2

1

Reception Class

3

*

*

Special day school/nursery

0

0

0

Day Nursery

193

32

17

Playgroup or pre-school

7

1

1

Nursery Class

362

100

31

Nursery school

47

13

4

Nursery Class

296

82

26

Reception Class

12

3

1

Special day school/nursery

0

0

0

Day Nursery

4

1

*

Playgroup or pre-school

3

1

*

Special day school/nursery

13

100

1

Nursery school

0

0

0

Nursery Class

0

0

0

Reception Class

1

8

*

Special day school/nursery

12

92

1

Day Nursery

0

0

0

Playgroup or pre-school

0

0

0

Playgroup or pre-school

175

100

15

Nursery school

32

18

3

Nursery Class

3

2

*

Reception Class

0

0

0

Special day school/nursery

0

0

0

Day Nursery

12

7

1

Playgroup or pre-school

128

73

11

GRAND TOTAL

1,155

100

7.4 Weighting

Summary of the weighting

The sample was selected from two sources: the main component was sampled from the Child Benefit Register (CBR) as per previous years of the survey, with an additional sample from respondents to the Family Resources Survey (FRS) that were identified as not receiving Child Benefit because of the introduction of the High Income Benefit Charge. These two components of the survey were weighted separately.   

The sample is analysed at both the family and child-level, and hence there are two final weights; a family weight for family-level analyses, and a child weight for analyses of data collected about the selected child.

Child Benefit sample: Family weights

Family selection weight

The Child Benefit sample was designed to be representative of the population of children (aged 14 or younger) of parents receiving Child Benefit, rather than the population of parents or families themselves. This design feature means that larger families are over-represented in the sample[23]. In addition, the sampling was designed so that the sample of children aged 0 to 4 was boosted by a factor of 6.6. This was a larger boost factor than the factor of 2.4 used in 2021 and 2022 and was first introduced in 2023 to increase the opportunities for analyses of children aged 0 to 4 years. 

The first stage of the weighting for the family weights corrects for these design features by calculating the appropriate selection weights. Note that these selection weights are based on the survey data collected rather the information in the Child Benefit records. This greatly reduces the variability of the weighting, thus giving greater precision, with no impact on the weighted survey estimates. 

The family selection weight is the inverse of the family’s selection probability, so larger households are weighted down:

W1 = 1/Pr(F); where

Pr(F) = (# children not aged 0 to 4) + 6.6 x (# children aged 0 to 4)

Family calibration weight

The next stage of the weighting adjusted the sample using calibration weighting, so that the weighted distribution for region and the number of children in the household at the family level matched the family-level Child Benefit counts, and the weighted distribution for age groups at the child level matched child-level Child Benefit counts (Table A.8). HMRC provided Ipsos with a breakdown of the sampling frame (before exclusions) for different variables at family and child level (see Tables A.8 and A.9). 

The family selection weights (W1) were used as the starting weights for the calibration weighting stage. 

Table A.8: Control totals for the family calibration weights

Population

Population

Selection weight (W1)

Final weight (W2)

N

%

%

%

Region (families)

North East

244,758

4.6

4.5

4.6

North West

720,158

13.6

15.8

13.7

Yorkshire and the Humber

530,874

10.1

9.9

10.0

East Midlands

459,233

8.7

7.7

8.7

West Midlands

582,074

11.0

12.2

11.0

East of England

590,418

11.2

12.4

11.2

London

829,602

15.7

12.5

15.7

South East

834,135

15.8

15.6

15.8

South West

490,848

9.3

9.5

9.3

TOTAL

5,282,100

Children’s age (children)

0-1

621,611

7.4

6.6

7.4

2-4

1,472,386

17.5

14.4

17.5

5-7

1,721,581

20.5

24.1

20.6

8-11

2,527,378

30.1

30.6

30.1

12-14

2,064,664

24.6

24.3

24.5

TOTAL

8,407,620

Number of children aged 0 to 14 in household (families)

1

2,884,050

54.6

53.7

54.6

2

1,837,397

34.8

35.5

34.8

3

433,651

8.2

8.4

8.2

4+

127,002

2.4

2.4

2.4

TOTAL

5,282,100

The weights after the calibration stage were the Child Benefit family weights (W2). 

[23] This follows from children in England having an equal chance of selection, meaning that a family with two children has twice the chance of having a child selected as a family with one child, a family with four children has four times the chance of having a child selected as a family with one child, and so on. Note that these ratios will vary depending on the age(s) of the child(ren) in the family given the increased chance of selection for children aged 0-4, as discussed elsewhere in this section.

Child Benefit sample: Child weights

Child selection weight

At each sampled address from the Child Benefit sample, a single child aged 0 to 14 was selected at random to be the focus of the detailed childcare section of the questionnaire. Children aged 0 to 4 were given a higher chance of selection (by a factor of 6.6) to boost the sample in that age range.

The child selection weight (W3) is the inverse of the child selection probabilities applied within each household:

W3 = 1/Pr(C); where

Pr(C) = 6.6 / [(# children not aged 0 to 4) + 6.6 x (# children aged 0 to 4)] if the child was aged 0 to 4

Pr(C) = 1 / [(# children not aged 0 to 4) + 6.6 x (# children aged 0 to 4)] if the child was not aged 0 to 4

Child calibration weight

The next stage was to produce calibration weights (W5) that adjusted the sample of selected children so that the weighted distributions for age/sex groups, region and number of children in the household matched child-level Child Benefit counts (Table A.9). The starting weights for the calibration stage (W4) were obtained by combining the family weight (W2) with the child selection weights (W3): W4 = W2 x W3.

Table A.9: Control totals for the child calibration weights

Population

Population

Pre-calibration weight (W4)

Final weight (W5)

N

%

%

%

Region (children)

North East

387,141

4.6

4.3

4.6

North West

1,161,626

13.8

13.7

13.8

Yorkshire and the Humber

857,257

10.2

9.8

10.2

East Midlands

728,309

8.7

9.2

8.7

West Midlands

955,085

11.4

11.5

11.4

East of England

931,022

11.1

11.0

11.1

London

1,305,063

15.5

15.6

15.5

South East

1,303,619

15.5

15.6

15.5

South West

778,498

9.3

9.4

9.3

TOTAL

8,407,620

Selected child’s gender / age (children)

Males: 0-1

319,056

3.8

3.6

3.8

Males: 2-4

756,024

9.0

8.5

9.0

Males: 5-7

882,080

10.5

12.3

10.5

Males: 8-11

1,294,929

15.4

14.3

15.4

Males: 12-14

1,057,763

12.6

13.4

12.6

Females: 0-1

302,555

3.6

3.6

3.6

Females: 2-4

716,362

8.5

8.3

8.5

Females: 5-7

839,501

10.0

10.6

10.0

Females: 8-11

1,232,449

14.7

14.0

14.7

Females: 12-14

1,006,901

12.0

11.3

12.0

TOTAL

8,407,620

Table A.9: Control totals for the child calibration weights (continued)

Population

Population

Pre-calibration weight (W4)

Final weight (W5)

N

%

%

%

Number of children in household (children)

1

2,883,780

34.3

33.7

34.3

2

3,674,450

43.7

44.4

43.7

3

1,300,831

15.5

15.0

15.5

4+

548,560

6.5

6.9

6.5

TOTAL

8,407,621

FRS Sample: Family and child weights

Because the number of interviews carried out with the sample selected from the Family Resources Survey was relatively small (N=106), a complex weighting strategy was not appropriate. Instead, the child and family weights for the FRS sample were both set to be three times the corresponding mean value for the Child Benefit sample weights. 

The weights for the two sample components were combined and re-scaled to have mean of 1, so the weights sum to the sample size.

Effective sample size

Disproportionate sampling and sample clustering usually result in a loss of precision for survey estimates. All else being equal, the more variable the weights, the greater the loss in precision.

The effect of the sample design on the precision of survey estimates is indicated by the effective sample size. The effective sample size measures the size of an (unweighted) simple random sample that would have provided the same precision as the design being implemented. The efficiency of a sample is given by the ratio of the effective sample size to the actual sample size.

The estimated ‘average’ effective sample size and sample efficiency were calculated for both weights (Table A.10). Note that this calculation includes only effects of the weighting; it does not include clustering effects, which will be question-specific. In addition, this is an ‘average’ effect for the weighting – the true effect will vary from question to question. These figures provide a guide to the average level of precision of child-level and family-level survey estimates.

Table A.10: Effective sample size and weighting efficiency

All

Base: All cases

5,715

Child weight

Effective sample size

3,304

Sample efficiency

57.8%

Family weight

Effective sample size

2,780

Sample efficiency

48.6%

 

Confidence intervals

Confidence intervals (at the 95% level) for key estimates in the survey are shown in Table A.11. These confidence intervals have been calculated using the Complex Samples commands in SPSS, which allow for the impact of the clustering, stratification and weighting on the precision. 

Table A.11: Confidence intervals (95%) for key estimates

Estimate

Standard error

Lower

Upper

Unweighted base

Use of any childcare by family

67.91

0.01

65.55

70.26

5,715

Use of formal childcare by family

50.09

0.01

47.95

52.23

5,715

Use of informal childcare by family

26.31

0.01

24.43

28.18

5,715

Hours of childcare used (pre-school children) (mean)

26.19

0.35

25.50

26.88

2,411

Hours of childcare used (school-age children) (mean)

11.33

0.38

10.58

12.08

1,062

Weekly amount (£) paid for childcare (mean)

68.71

2.49

63.82

73.60

2,356

Use of holiday childcare 

38.01%

1.41

35.24%

40.78%

4,143

Annexes

Appendix: Socio-demographic profile

Respondent characteristics

Gender of responding parent

As in previous surveys in the series, most of the parents who responded to the survey were female (81%).

Age

The mean age of respondents was 39.7 years. Table B.1 shows the age bands of respondents by family type. It shows that respondents in couple families tended to be slightly older than lone parent respondents.

Table B.1: Age of respondent, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Age of respondent

%

%

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,416

1,361

5,777

20 and under

*

1

*

21 to 30

8

18

11

31 to 40

44

40

43

41 to 50

40

33

38

51+

7

9

8

Mean

40.2

38.6

39.7

Marital status

Most respondents (60%) were married. Just over one in four (27%) had never married or had never been in a legally registered civil partnership (including persons who were cohabiting) (Table B.2, overleaf).

Table B.2: Marital status

All

Marital status

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

5,777

Married

60

Never married and never legally registered in a civil partnership

27

Divorced

6

Separated but still legally married

3

In a legally registered civil partnership

2

Widowed

1

Separated but still legally in a civil partnership

*

Formerly in a civil partnership which is now legally dissolved

*

A surviving member of a legally registered civil partnership

*

Notes: The use of an asterisk in a table denotes that a percentage value of less than 0.5 but greater than zero.

Qualifications

Respondents in lone parent families tended to have lower qualifications than respondents in couple families (Table B.3). Lone parents were less likely to hold Honours and Masters degrees as their highest qualification than were respondents in couple families and were more likely not to hold any academic qualifications.

Table B.3: Highest qualification, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Qualifications

%

%

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,360

1,337

5,697

GCSE grade D-G/CSE grade 2-5/SCE O Grades (D-E)/SCE

6

11

7

GCSE grade A-C/GCE O-level passes/CSE grade 1/SCE O

12

19

14

GCE A-level/SCE Higher Grades (A-C)

12

13

13

Certificate of Higher Education

7

8

7

Foundation degree

3

4

4

Honours degree (e.g. BSc, BA, BEd)

27

16

24

Masters degree (e.g. MA, PGDip)

18

9

16

Doctorate (e.g. PhD)

2

0

2

Other academic qualifications

1

0

1

None

11

17

13

Family characteristics

Size of the family

The median family size was four people. The smallest families comprised two people (i.e. one parent and one child), and the largest comprised 12 people.

Number of children aged 0 to 14 in the family

Just over half of families (53%) had one child aged 0 to 14, 36% had two children, and 11% had three or more children (Table B.4). Lone parents tended to have fewer children than couple families.

Table B.4: Number of children in the family, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Number of children

%

%

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,416

1,361

5,777

1

49

63

53

2

40

26

36

3+

11

10

11

Around one in six (17%) of families had only pre-school children, 15% had both pre-school and school-age children, and two thirds (67%) had only school-age children (Table B.5).

Table B.5: Number of pre-school and school-age children in the family, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Age of children in family

%

%

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,416

1,361

5,777

Only pre-school children (0 to 4 years)

19

12

17

Both pre-school and school-age children

16

13

15

Only school-age children (5 to 14 years)

64

75

67

Family annual income

Table B.6 shows the family annual income (before tax). Lone parents tended to have lower family annual incomes than did couple families.

Table B.6: Annual family income, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Family annual income

%

%

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

3,841

1,197

5,038

£0 - £19,999

6

36

14

£20,000 - £29,999

8

30

15

£30,000 - £44,999

17

21

18

£45,000 - £64,999

25

8

20

£65,000 or more

44

4

33

Family type and work status

Table B.7 shows family type and work status. Just over half of respondents were from couple families where both parents worked (54%), and a further 16% were in couple families where one parent worked. In 12% of families no-one was working (nine per cent were non-working lone parent families and three per cent were couple families where neither parent was in work).

Table B.7: Family work status

All

Family work status

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

5,777

Couple – both working

54

Couple – one working

16

Couple – neither working

3

Lone parent working

18

Lone parent not working

9

Tenure

The tenure of respondents’ families is shown in Table B.8. Families were most likely to buying their home with the help of a mortgage or loan (46%) or be renting the property (43%). Most couple families were in the process of buying their home with the help of a mortgage or loan (58%), while most lone parents were renting (74%). 

Table B.8: Tenure status, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Tenure status

%

%

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,347

1,347

5,694

Buying it with the help of a mortgage or loan

58

17

46

Rent it

31

74

43

Own it outright

9

5

8

Live rent-free (in relative’s/friend’s property)

1

3

2

Pay part rent and part mortgage 
(shared ownership)

1

1

1

Selected child characteristics

Gender of selected child

Just over half of selected children were boys (52%), and just under half were girls (48%).

Age of selected child

The age of the selected child was spread across all age categories (Table B.9).

Table B 9: Age of selected child, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Age of selected child

%

%

%

Base: All child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,416

1,361

5,777

0 to 2

14

10

13

3 to 4

12

10

12

5 to 7

23

19

22

8 to 11

30

32

30

12 to 14

20

29

23

Ethnic group of selected child

Most of the selected children in the survey were White British (63%) (Table B.10).

Table B.10: Ethnicity of selected child, by family type


Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Ethnicity of selected child

%

%

%

Base: All child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,404

1,353

5,757

White

White British

62

67

63

White Irish

*

*

*

Other White

10

6

9

Mixed

White and Black Caribbean

1

3

2

White and Black African

1

2

1

White and Asian

2

1

2

Other mixed

2

3

2

Asian or Asian British

Indian

5

1

4

Pakistani

6

3

5

Bangladeshi

3

1

2

Other Asian

3

1

2

Black or Black British

Caribbean

1

2

1

African

4

8

5

Other Black

*

*

*

Chinese

1

*

0

Arab

1

*

1

Other

*

*

*

Special education needs and disabilities of selected child

Fourteen per cent of selected children had a special educational need[24], and eight per cent had a long-standing physical or mental impairment, illness or disability (Table B.11). 

Table B.11: Special educational needs or disabilities of selected child, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Special educational needs or disabilities of selected child

%

%

%

Base: All child(ren) aged 0 to 14

4,416

1,361

5,777

Child has SEN

12

23

14

Child has long-standing physical or mental impairment, illness or disability

6

14

8

Among children with a special educational need, 41% had an Education, Health and Care plan or a Statement of special educational needs, and 27% received SEN support (Table B.12). A further eight per cent received one of these (an Education, Health and Care plan/Statement of special educational needs, or SEN support) but the parent did not know which.

Table B.12: Support received by selected child with special educational needs, by family type

Family type

Couples

Lone parents

All

Special educational needs

%

%

%

Base: All child(ren) with a special educational need or other special needs

352

230

582

Child has Education, Health and Care plan or Statement of special educational needs

40

42

41

Child receives SEN support

26

28

27

Child receives one of the above, but parent does not know which

8

9

8

Child does not receive any of these

26

22

24

Region, area deprivation and rurality

Table B.13: Geographical spread of the surveyed families according to region.

All

Region

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

5,777

North East

5

North West

14

Yorkshire and the Humber

10

East Midlands

8

West Midlands

10

East of England

12

London

15

South East

17

South West

9

Interviewed families lived in a broad range of areas in terms of deprivation levels, as defined by the Index of Multiple Deprivation in England (Table B.14).

Table B.14: Area deprivation according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation

All

Area deprivation

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

5,777

1st quintile – most deprived

25

2nd quintile

20

3rd quintile

18

4th quintile

17

5th quintile – least deprived

19

Table B.15: Urban and rural spread of  surveyed families

All

Rurality

%

Base: All families with child(ren) aged 0 to 14

5,777

Rural

16

Urban

84

Urban - major conurbation

36

Urban - minor conurbation

5

Urban - city and town

42

Rural - town and fringe

10

Rural - town and fringe in a sparse setting

*

Rural - village and dispersed

7

Rural - village and dispersed in a sparse setting

*

[24] The selected child was categorised as having a special educational need (or not) during the interview via the parent’s response to the question “Does [child’s name] have any special educational needs or other special needs? [yes/no/don’t know/refused]”.

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