• A quarter (25%) of parents say new funding will save them less than £90 a month.

• 22% of parents who are eligible for the new funding are still considering leaving their job or reducing their hours at work due to childcare costs

• 62% say costs have increased in last 6 months whilst 64% say costs will increase again in the next 6 months

DATE: 25th March 2024; New research from charity Pregnant Then Screwed finds that parents eligible for the new 15 funded hours for two-year-olds will still struggle to afford their childcare bill. Recent price hikes have swallowed up a proportion of the estimated savings with a quarter saving less than £90 a month, whilst 1 in 5 (17%) say savings will be less than £50 a month.

The data found that the median saving will be between £100 – £120, or up to £1,440 a year. A far cry from the Government’s estimated savings of £6,500 a year once the schemes are fully rolled out.

Last week, Coram Family and Childcare found that the average cost in 2023 for a full time place for a 2 year old was £14,765.40 a year. But it looks as though prices have increased further since then. Of the parents surveyed, the majority (62.2%) have experienced a recent price increase in the last six months, with almost a third (32%) saying they have increased by at least 8%. 64% say costs will increase in the next six months, with over a third (35%) saying costs will increase by at least 6%. Of those who said their childcare costs would be increasing, 68% said they would be paying at least £5 more per day.

The result of this means that 1 in 5 parents (22%) have or are considering leaving their jobs or reducing their hours as they can’t afford to work.

Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed 3396 parents who are eligible for the new 2-year-old funding from 1st April 2024. The survey ran from Friday 15th March – Thursday 21st March 2024.

The good news is that 98% of parents said that they have received their childcare code – of these, 85% said they had given their code to their provider and everything has been fine. Just 5% said their provider either refused to accept it, said it didn’t work, or said they didn’t know what to do with it. Just 2% say they cannot access a place, either because they cannot find a provider, or they don’t want to move their child from their current provider, or they cannot afford the top-up fees to access a funded place.

However, it is a different picture for those who are using a childcare provider for the first time.

Just 66% say they have managed to successfully register with a provider and are able to access their entitlement, with 13% saying they can’t find a provider who has capacity for their child whilst 4% say they cannot afford the additional fees to access their place.

This raises concerns for the September roll out when far more children accessing the funding will be new to the system. However,there is a note of caution that the sample size of parents who are eligible for the scheme but are using childcare for the first time was small at just 149.

Joeli Brealey, CEO and Founder of Pregnant Then Screwed, comments, “Once again, parents are picking up the government’s tab due to underfunding. The fault does not lie with the childcare providers themselves but at the door of number 10. Nurseries cannot magic up money to plug financial gaps left by years of chronic underfunding, and so they have to increase their fees. Parents feel like they have been sold a pup. No wonder so many are saying they feel stressed because of issues with the scheme.’’

The survey found that 44% of parents feel stressed because of issues with the 2 year old funding.

On May 12th, parents will be able to apply for codes to access the additional funding for children from 9 months, which kicks in in September. The sector has sounded a note of caution that there is neither the capacity or the workforce to deal with this new scheme.

Joeli Brearley, CEO and Founder of Pregnant Then Screwed comments, “Years of neglect by successive governments has led to a staffing crisis and a deterioration in provision. The new childcare schemes will increase demand whilst supply dwindles. Without swift investment and a workforce strategy, the rollout of these new funded hour schemes could be the match in the powder barrel.’’

 

ENDS

 

Pregnant Then Screwed surveyed 3396 parents who are eligible for the new 2-year-old funding from 1st April 2024. The survey ran from Friday 15th March – Thursday 21st March 2024. It was a self selecting survey.

 

22% Say they either have or are considering leaving their job or reducing their hours at work due to recent cost increases despite being eligible for new funding

 

When asked if they have had any issues with using their code – 85% said they had given it to their provider and everything has been fine.

 

An additional 2% are moving their child to a different provider to be ale to access a funded place

1% have not looked for a place yet

 

95% have secured this funding through their current provider

 

The big issue seems to be restrictions providers are placing on accessing the funding

Just 30% of parents said providers had not placed any restrictions on accessing the funding. Restrictions include: Charging large sums for sundry items or consumables (27%). Providers preventing parents from using the full 15 hours a week (4%), limiting how many hours you can use each day (11%), only able o access the funding if paid hours are increased (4%)

 

Of those who knew how much the funded hours would save them, 8% said it won’t save them any money or it will cost them more than it will save 17% said it will save them less than £50 a month