Higher income families are taking up a disproportionate share of subsidised child care, a new study has revealed.
Families living on lower incomes are much more likely to rely on more informal services, including nannies, friends and family, which are not eligible for subsidy even when parents have to pay for them.
The research, published by the Department for Work and Pensions, surveyed more than 8,000 families and found that 57 per cent of pre-school children and 12 per cent of school-age children with parents who worked at managerial or professional type jobs were placed in eligible forms of child care, compared to 22 per cent and 3 per cent respectively of children whose parents worked in manual jobs.
Thirty-nine per cent of mothers who were working full time were paying for child care. Of these, just under a third were relying on, and paying for care which was not eligible for the childcare tax credit.
The report says: “This finding presents a challenge to policies which aim to increase eligible child care placements for lower income working families with the added incentive of a tax credit. It appears that those forms of child care which qualify for support from the government are disproportionately being taken up by families who do not necessarily qualify for the childcare tax credit.”
- Families and Children 2001: Work and Childcare, by Diana Kasparova, Alan Marsh, Sandra Vegeris and Jane Perry. Summary available at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/191summ.pdf
- Families and Children 2001: Living Standards and the children by Sandra Vegeris and Jane Perry. Summary available at www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/190summ.pdf
