News

Providing high quality child care may not be as effective in reducing family poverty as previously hoped, a new study suggests.

The randomised controlled trial, published in the British Medical Journal, found that mothers who were offered a place at a day care centre for their children were more likely to find jobs than those who were not, but their reported household incomes were no higher than those whose children had not been given places.

The researchers say the study supports the government view that daycare provision can increase maternal employment but argue that this may not be a route out of poverty unless other changes are made. Tackling low pay, changing the benefit structure and reducing the costs of day care to poor families may be equally important to reducing poverty, they argue.

The study followed a group of 120 mothers of children between six months and 3.5 years in Hackney, London. Places were allocated randomly among families on the waiting list at the Holly Street Estate Early Years Centre.

After 18 months those with a child care place at the centre worked more hours per week than the others. But they were no more likely to have a household weekly income of more than £200 than the families who had not been given a place for their child.

- Tami Toroyan et al, Effectiveness of Out-of-Home Day Care for Disadvantaged Families, Randomised Controlled Trial, BMJ 2003, 327:906