As Scotland’s parents prepare for the big summer juggle, PTS Scotland reveals the findings of their 2026 summer childcare survey. The research illuminates the everyday struggle of making childcare work during the summer, and the reliance upon informal care to plug the gaps. 8 in 10 parents who use informal childcare depend most on grandmothers, highlighting the impact on women of all generations.
The research also reveals that two-thirds of Scottish parents (67.5%) say juggling childcare with work this summer is having a negative impact on their career, and 60.3% say it’s causing them stress and impacting their mental health. When asked to rate their stress on a scale of 0 to 5, 58.1% rated it a 4 or 5.
Many are still struggling to find solutions, with two-thirds of respondents (66.6%) saying they still don’t have all their childcare in place for this summer. Half (52.2%) of respondents feel there isn’t enough summer childcare available and 58.5% said they aren’t able to find childcare to fit their working patterns.
Many parents are forced to make sacrifices to their career or financially to cover the gap. A quarter (27.5%) of respondents said they had to reduce their hours at work, and 45% said they started working flexibly over the summer to make childcare work. A third (36%) also said they felt judged by their colleagues for taking time off to care for their children.
Of those using summer holiday camps, a quarter (25.7%) will be spending more than £200 a week, potentially leaving some over £1000 out of pocket by the time children return to school. For many, that means stretching already tight budgets far too thinly, with 58.4% reporting that paying for childcare this summer was impacting their ability to afford household essentials.
The financial pressure means parents often need to rely on friends and family. For an overwhelming majority, this was other women. Of those relying on informal care, 90.6% said their female relative, friend, or neighbour was helping them the most, and 80.6% said they were relying on a grandmother.
Commenting, Carole Erskine, Head of Policy & Campaigns, for Pregnant then Screwed Scotland, said:
“The summer holidays are a constant headache for mums, who are more often than not the primary carer for children, and now this worry and responsibility is being shared with their mums and their parents’ mums too.
“While some families have the option of relying on grandparents, many do not have this choice and are forced to pay a huge amount for childcare or step back from work because of availability and cost. This matters because time and time again it’s women stepping up to help, creating a knock-on effect that’s spanning generations. Some mums have only had a few years between taking the lion’s share of caring responsibilities for their own children and then doing it again for grandchildren.”
The majority (83.3%) of respondents said they will have to take annual leave this summer to juggle childcare, with 35.6% taking between 2 and 3 weeks and 16.7% taking more than 3 weeks. A quarter (25.2%) said they will have to take unpaid leave. Their co-parents, who were in most cases fathers, often feel much less impact. Just 3.3% said their co-parent will be taking more than three weeks’ annual leave and 20.7% said their co-parent won’t be taking any annual leave at all.
Among co-parents, 28.5% said having to use leave for summer childcare meant they couldn’t take a family holiday, and 61.3% said it meant they couldn’t have the family time they wished for this summer. This has an impact on day-to-day life, with 30.9% saying it was putting a strain on their relationship.
Carole comments:
“We heard numerous pledges from the political parties before the Holyrood election on additional childcare support, and these figures show how desperately parents need this. The Scottish Government needs to set out how it will deliver funded childcare from nine months to the end of primary school as soon as possible.”
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