A study found that since the government started providing pump-priming funding to support the creation of childminder networks in April 2001, the number of formal childminder networks had grown steadily from around 60 to more than 350.
Source: BMRB Social Research, Childminder Networks Census, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2004-Dec
The government published (alongside the 2004 Pre-Budget Report) a ten-year strategy for childcare, setting out its long-term vision of affordable, flexible, high-quality childcare for all parents who needed it. It also announced an increase in the entitlement to free nursery education for all children aged 3-4 to 15 hours a week for 38 weeks a year, reaching all children by 2010; and improvements to the childcare element of the working tax credit. Childcare campaigners welcomed the strategy, but raised questions about coverage and affordability.
Source: Choice for Parents, the Best Start for Children: A ten year strategy for childcare, HM Treasury (020 7270 4558) | Pre-Budget Report 2004: Opportunity for All - The strength to take the long-term decisions for Britain, Cm 6408, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 2 December 2004, columns 781-804, TSO | Press release 3 December 2004, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350)
Links: Childcare strategy (pdf) | PBR report (pdf) | PBR report (pdf links) | Hansard | HMT press release | EOC press release | Daycare Trust press release | NCH press release | NDNA press release | NFPI press release | IFS press release (pdf) | PCS press release | Guardian report | Community Care report | Children Now report
Date: 2004-Dec
Researchers investigated recent trends in childcare use, and provided a comparison of the different household survey and administrative datasets.
Source: Mike Brewer and Jonathan Shaw, Childcare Use and Mothers Employment: A review of British data sources, Working Paper 16, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Working paper (pdf links)
Date: 2004-Dec
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on early years services.
Source: Treasury Minutes on the Thirty-fifth and Fortieth to Forty-third Reports from the Committee of Public Accounts 2003-2004, Cm 6416, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response (pdf) | MPs report
Date: 2004-Dec
The government announced that, from April 2005 under the Childcare Approval Scheme, families would be eligible for working tax credit support for childcare in their own home (such as nannies). The scheme would expand the previous Home Childcarers Scheme. It would be run by a separate Approval Body, under contract to the Department for Education and Skills.
Source: Press release 8 December 2004, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: DfES press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Dec
A report called for a new type of worker to staff the growing number of integrated services that combined education and care for children. Workers should consider the whole child - body, mind, feelings and creativity.
Source: Claire Cameron, Building an Integrated Workforce for a Long-term Vision of Universal Early Education and Care, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350)
Links: Daycare Trust press release | Observer report
Date: 2004-Nov
The Prime Minister said that all parents of primary school children would have the guarantee of affordable school-based childcare all year round over the lifetime of the following Parliament (by 2010).
Source: Speech by Tony Blair MP (Prime Minister), 11 November 2004
Links: Text of Speech
Date: 2004-Nov
A report provided information on the existing and potential state of the market for children s services, and sought to identify gaps in provision.
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Scoping the Market for Children's Services, Research Report RW24, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Annexes (pdf) | Brief (Word file)
Date: 2004-Nov
A think-tank paper reviewed research about what affected development in the early years, and examined the existing policy framework in the light of that research. It then made recommendations designed to improve social mobility and other desired outcomes in the early years and thereafter, including: extending paid parental leave to 12 months; offering a more flexible package of support to families with children under the age of 2 or 3; providing high-quality centre-based care for children aged 2, starting with the most disadvantaged; and providing a more integrated system of high-quality care and education for children aged 3-5.
Source: Jane Waldfogel, Social Mobility, Life Chances and the Early Years, CASEpaper 88, Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion/London School of Economics (020 7955 6679)
Links: Paper (pdf)
Date: 2004-Nov
The opposition Conservative Party outlined its plans for childcare. It said that fathers would be able for the first time to share with their partners up to a year's paid leave from work after the birth of a baby.
Source: Speech by Michael Howard MP, 11 November 2004
Links: Text of speech | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
The schools inspectorate announced (following consultation) that, from April 2005, nurseries would face no-notice inspections, a new grading scale, and the introduction of self-assessment - as part of moves to integrate the inspection of childcare and nursery education, schools, colleges and other post-16 training providers.
Source: The Future of Early Years Inspection: Results of the consultation, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report (pdf) | OFSTED press release | PSA press release (pdf)
Date: 2004-Nov
A report (by the consultancy firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers) said that longer parental leave and better childcare facilities could increase economic growth and add up to 24 billion to national output.
Source: John Hawksworth et al., Universal Early Education and Care in 2020: Costs, benefits and funding options, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350) and Social Market Foundation
Links: Daycare Trust press release | Guardian report | BBC report
Date: 2004-Oct
A think tank reportedly said that the government's childcare policies failed to meet the needs of disabled, ethnic minority and working-class white families. Childcare services were targeted at particular groups or areas, and reached only 46 per cent of all children living in poverty.
Source: Report by Focus Institute for Rights and Social Transformation, reported in The Guardian, 11 October 2004
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2004-Oct
An article examined the assumptions underlying official policy on childcare - that both parents were employed, and made cost-benefit calculations in choosing childcare. It concluded that these assumptions were inadequate, and that the mere expansion of services was not enough. Mothers made complex moral and emotional decisions around their own needs and those of their children, and these decisions differed between social groups.
Source: Simon Duncan, Rosalind Edwards, Tracey Reynolds and Pam Alldred, 'Mothers and child care: policies, values and theories', Children & Society, Volume 18 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Sep
The Prime Minister announced plans to introduce universal access to flexible childcare, including guaranteed provision between 8am and 6pm near all schools, by the end of a third Labour term.
Source: Speech by Tony Blair MP (Prime Minister), 28 September 2004,
Links: Text of speech | Daycare Trust press release | NASUWT press release | SureStart press release | Guardian report | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Sep
A report evaluated the Working for Families Fund (set up by the Scottish Executive to help disadvantaged parents and carers from deprived areas to move closer to employability or training, by providing tailored childcare support). Some early project impacts were identifiable: some clients had moved into work; others had been helped to retain jobs; and others had been able to gain jobs that provided greater satisfaction. There was some evidence that the support and guidance given had raised household incomes. Support had a beneficial impact on the confidence and motivation of clients. Anecdotal evidence indicated that children were benefiting from childcare support. But there was little evidence that the Fund was having any impact upon employers, in terms of helping them to fill vacancies that had been empty for some time.
Source: Keith Hayton, Michelle Myron and Loraine Gray, Working for Families: Lessons from the pilot projects (stage 2), Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Date: 2004-Sep
A study found that access to childcare was a 'lottery', with many families unable to find affordable nurseries where they lived. A typical nursery place for a child under the age of two cost nearly 7,000 a year. The report included a paper which set out a vision of children s services for the next ten years.
Source: A New Era for Universal Childcare?, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350)
Links: Daycare Trust press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
A report by a committee of MPs said that there had been 'good progress' in increasing the supply of early education: but the government needed to tackle the risks to the viability of provision, and regional gaps in supply. The challenge was to spend the extra funds available for childcare and early years provision cost-effectively.
Source: Early Years: Progress in developing high quality childcare and early education accessible to all, Thirty-fifth Report (Session 2003-04), HC 444, House of Commons Public Accounts Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | CPAG press release | NDNA press release | Community Care report
Date: 2004-Sep
The schools inspectorate published its annual report (for 2003-04) on provision of day care and childcare services. It said that the majority of childcarers provided satisfactory or good-quality care. The report focused on what action was taken where expected standards of care were not met.
Source: Early Years: Protection through regulation, HMI 2279, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report (pdf) | OFSTED press release | Daycare Trust press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Aug
A briefing paper said that the government had made progress in reducing the number of children in poverty since 1999: but child poverty policies had thus far been focused on increasing household income. There was no national strategy to end child poverty that comprised both income maximisation and the provision of public services, such as childcare.
Source: Childcare and Child Poverty, End Child Poverty (020 7843 1913) and Daycare Trust
Links: Briefing (pdf) | Daycare Trust press release
Date: 2004-Jul
An article investigated mothers' decision-making with respect to the care of their pre-school children and their own employment. It looked at the implications of positive 'feedback' effects for developing policy that expanded the choices available to mothers in the short term, reduced the costs of motherhood, and met the government's long-term objectives of reducing child poverty and increasing employment.
Source: Susan Himmelweit and Maria Sigala, 'Choice and the relationship between identities and behaviour for mothers with pre-school children: some implications for policy from a UK study', Journal of Social Policy, Volume 33 Issue 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2004-Jul
The Labour Party published a consultative policy document on childcare, education and skills.
Source: The Best Education for All, Labour Party (08705 900200)
Links: Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jul
A report said that childcare initiatives targeting London s 20 per cent most deprived wards ignored many poor families in most need, and should be replaced by a strategy to increase affordable childcare provision across the capital.
Source: Childcare Needs of Low Income Families in London, Living Outside the 20% Most Deprived Wards, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350) for Association of London Government
Links: Report (pdf) | ALG press release
Date: 2004-Jul
Researchers reviewed three different approaches which could be used to improve understanding of the link between childcare use and mothers employment. They said that a sensible model should recognise that mothers demanded childcare not just to free up time for paid work, but also for the benefits childcare brought to their children.
Source: Mike Brewer and Gillian Paull, Reviewing Approaches to Understanding the Link between Childcare Use and Mothers Employment, Working Paper 14, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Working paper (pdf) | DWP press release
Date: 2004-Jul
The 2004 Spending Review promised 800 more children's centres by 2008, over and above the 1,700 previously committed. An extra 100 million was allocated.
Source: Stability, Security and Opportunity for All: Investing for Britain s long-term future - 2004 Spending Review/New public spending plans 2005-2008, Cm 6237, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Spending Review report (pdf links) | Daycare Trust press release | EOC press release | NCH press release | OPF press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jul
Research found that children from disadvantaged backgrounds were most likely to benefit from good-quality childcare services: but they were the least likely to have access to them.
Source: Edward Melhuish, Child Benefits: The importance of investing in quality childcare, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350)
Links: Daycare Trust press release | Children Now report
Date: 2004-Jun
A study argued that government childcare policies, combined with decades of under-investment in childcare services, were hampering reforms designed to integrate childcare and education in England and Scotland. The twin-track policies of targeted investment on disadvantaged areas and families, and stimulating a private childcare market for working parents, had maintained the division and fragmentation of services; while parents still paid, on average, six times more for a pre-school place than parents in Sweden.
Source: Bronwen Cohen, Peter Moss, Pat Petrie and Jennifer Wallace, A New Deal for Children?: Re-forming education and care in England, Scotland and Sweden, Policy Press, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: Summary | Policy Press press release (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jun
The government began consultation on plans to extend (from April 2005) the types of childcare for which families might qualify for financial support, including childcare provided in the family home by nannies.
Source: Childcare: Extending protection and broadening support, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | DfES press release | Daycare Trust press release | NDNA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-May
A report said that some parents found staying on benefits and not working proved to be more cost effective than entering the job market, because the cost of childcare was too high. It recommended a move away from area-based initiatives towards universal provision of childcare; and recruitment campaigns that targeted under-represented groups within the childcare workforce (including men, older workers and people from black and minority ethnic communities), to encourage them to consider caring for children as a profession.
Source: Talking about Childcare: Conversations with parents and children from low income families, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350)
Links: Daycare Trust press release | Children Now report
Date: 2004-May
A report summarised a series of surveys detailing the childcare and early years workforce in 2002-03. Separate surveys were conducted for eight different types of childcare and early years settings. Since 2001, the number of full daycare providers had increased by 28 per cent, while the number of playgroup providers had reduced by 15 per cent.
Source: 2002/03 Childcare and Early Years Workforce Survey, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf links)
Date: 2004-May
Researchers found that the proportion of children participating both in nursery education and in childcare in the previous week (in a survey conducted in England in 2001 and 2002) had increased significantly since 1997. There was a clear correlation between use of these services and both high household income and non-manual social class status.
Source: Alice Bell and Steven Finch, Sixth Survey of Parents of Three and Four Year Old Children and their Use of Early Years Services, Research Report 525, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2004-Apr
A paper set out the approach being adopted to a study of the information gaps relating to the impact and interaction of funding streams on childcare at a local level.
Source: Judy Corlyon and Pamela Meadows, Methods Paper: Defining a Local Childcare Market, Research Report 526MP, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Apr
A report said that the government's national childcare strategy had played a key role in encouraging childcare provision by local authorities that had previously had little involvement in this area. There was a need to intervene to mediate market forces, which could lead to childcare provision being almost entirely determined by ability to pay. Out-of-school childcare was still patchy and often struggling to become financially viable despite years of pump-priming funding: schools' reluctance to engage with the childcare agenda was seen as a key obstacle.
Source: Tim Harries, Ivana La Valle and Sarah Dickens, Childcare: How Local Markets Respond to National Initiatives, Research Report 526, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf) | NCSR press release (Word file)
Date: 2004-Apr
A report examined the kinds of support which parents and their adult children typically provided for each other - both financial and in-kind help, such as childcare.
Source: John Ermisch, Parent and Adult-child Interactions: Empirical evidence from Britain, Working Paper 2004-02, Institute for Social and Economic Research/University of Essex (01206 873087)
Links: Working paper (pdf)
Date: 2004-Apr
The government pledged (in the Budget) to create 1,700 children s centres by 2008, including one in all of the 20 per cent most disadvantaged wards in England, with a longer-term goal of a children s centre in every community. It also announced increased spending of 669 million on Sure Start, early years education and childcare by 2007-08, an annual rise of 17 per cent. Provision of free part-time early education places would be extended on a pilot basis to 6,000 children aged 2 living in disadvantaged areas. A new childcare voucher scheme, to be operated by employers from April 2005, would be extended to include care provided by nannies as well as registered childminders.
Source: Prudence for a Purpose: A Britain of stability and strength - Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report and Financial Statement and Budget Report, HC 301, HM Treasury, TSO (0870 600 5522) | House of Commons Hansard, Debate 17 March 2004, columns 321-336, TSO
Links: Report (pdf links) | HMT press releases | Budget speech | DfES press release | Daycare Trust press release | EOC press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2004-Mar
A report contained the first stage of a continuing evaluation of 'working for families' pilot projects in Scotland, aimed at helping parents and carers move closer to employability through the provision of a wide range of tailored childcare, including childcare in the home. It identified the importance of projects having a steering group, and linking into wider strategic and policy networks; and the need for project activities to be based on research and local knowledge as well as consultation with interested parties.
Source: Keith Hayton and Michelle Myron, Working for Families: Lessons from the pilot projects (stage 1), Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Date: 2004-Mar
The National Audit Office said that nearly 100,000 new childcare places had been created for pre-school children since 1998, and that the government was on course to meet its targets for the provision of free part-time early education for children aged 3-4. But it said that more needed to be done to ensure that much of this new provision was sustainable, and to close the gap in relative levels of provision between the poorest areas and others. It also published a literature review of the impact of early years provision on young children, in particular those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Source: Early Years: Progress in developing high quality childcare and early education accessible to all, HC 268 (Session 2003-04), National Audit Office, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Edward Melhuish, A Literature Review of the Impact of Early Years Provision on Young Children, with Emphasis Given to Children from Disadvantaged Backgrounds, National Audit Office (020 7798 7000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | Literature review (pdf) | NAO press release | OFSTED press release | Daycare Trust press release | DfES press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Feb
A report said that the children's day nursery market grew by 12.4 per cent in 2003 to be worth 2.66 billion, driven by a combination of higher nursery fees (up 7 per cent), and increased demand from parents for nursery services.
Source: Philip Blackburn, Children's Nurseries 2004, Laing & Buisson (020 7833 9123)
Date: 2004-Feb
The schools inspectorate said that day nurseries, along with out-of-school care, were leading the growth of the childcare sector, and also scored highest in quality ratings. The number of day nurseries in England had increased by 8 per cent over the 6 months to September 2003, contributing to an overall 70,000 new places across all types of childcare. New quality ratings for childcare settings were published for the first time (in the inspectorate annual report), with 50 per cent of day nurseries the highest of any type of childcare - achieving the top rating of good .
Source: Annual Report 2002/03 - Childcare and early learning, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833) | Standards and Quality 2002/03: The annual report of Her Majesty s Chief Inspector of Schools, Office for Standards in Education, TSO (0870 600 5522) | Registered Childcare Providers and Places in England, 31 December 2003, Office for Standards in Education
Links: Annual childcare report (Word file) | Ofsted annual report (pdf) | December 2003 report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
A briefing paper explored experiences of caring and working. It said that accessing available, affordable and high-quality childcare remained a key concern for parents combining caring and working. Most of the sourcing, organisation and resourcing of care was still usually undertaken by women, illustrating and reinforcing the gendered aspects of caring. Successive governments had not addressed the 'shifting time frames' in which parents or carers considered and planned daily and longer-term arrangements for care.
Source: Linda McKie, Susan Gregory and Sophia Bowlby, Caringscapes: Experiences of caring and working, Briefing 13, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (0131 651 1832)
Links: Briefing (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
A study examined how women in different minority ethnic groups made decisions about employment and childcare, and the extent to which childcare and other factors affected their participation in the labour market. Childcare services were not considered to be in tune with changing gender roles and the increasing number of working mothers, due to the perceived lack of appropriate, accessible and affordable services: this could inhibit women from participating and progressing in the labour market. Mothers felt that there was a need for culturally and religiously sensitive childcare services for Asian and Muslim mothers, including employing staff from various ethnic communities, and encouraging minority ethnic mothers to provide childminding services.
Source: Kathryn Hall, James Bance and Nickie Denton, Diversity and Difference: Minority ethnic mothers and childcare, Women and Equality Unit/Department of Trade and Industry (0845 001 0029)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jan
A report said that a lack of affordable childcare meant many parents and children of larger families were trapped in a life of low income and low expectations. Although only a third of all children were in large families (three or more children), they accounted for half of all poor children. Some minority ethnic groups were particularly affected.
Source: Hilary Land, Women, Child Poverty and Childcare: Making the links, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350) and Trades Union Congress
Links: Daycare Trust press release | Community Care article
Date: 2004-Jan
A survey report said that childcare costs in England had risen by more than inflation for the third year running. The typical cost in 2004 of a nursery place for a child under 2 was 134 a week, up from 128 a week in 2003 - a rise of nearly 5 per cent. This compared to an average household income of 562 a week, and average weekly expenditure on housing and food combined of 82 a week.
Source: 2004 Childcare Costs Survey, Daycare Trust (020 7840 3350)
Links: Daycare Trust press release
Date: 2004-Jan