The government’s vision is for a childcare market, which offers the reliability, accessibility, diversity and affordability that allows parents to make real choices about balancing family life. Provision that is high quality, flexible and sustainable, using the optimum combination of skills and experience from the private, voluntary and maintained sector to secure the best outcomes for children locally, reduce inequality and contribute to ending child poverty.
The Childcare Act 2006 places a duty on the local authorities to assess and secure sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents in the local authority's area who require childcare in order to enable them:
- To take up, or remain in, work, or
- To undertake education or training likely to help obtain work
Bradford Early Years, Childcare & Play completed the first Childcare Sufficiency Assessment in March 2008. Findings are detailed in the Childcare Sufficiency Plan 2008-2011 which can be downloaded as a PDF below.
The Sufficiency Assessment was reviewed and updated in April 2009. The full report can be downloaded as a PDF below. Summary findings are given below:
The Market for Childcare in Bradford 2008-9
Childcare for Children Aged 0 to 4
The number of day care providers in the district increased by 4%, to 108, while the number of childminders fell by 4%, to 527. The net effect of these changes has been a marginal increase in the total stock of childcare places, and a slight redistribution of the stock of places away from home-based provision towards group provision, which now accounts for 78% of the district’s pre-five provision.
The total number of children aged 0 to 4 also rose by 4% over the year to 38,530. This means that the number of childcare places per 100 children has declined from 17.1 in 2008 to 16.3 in 2009. Despite the rise in the number of children relative to places, occupancy of places has fallen to 69% , down from 73% as the recession takes hold. Occupancy of home-based childcare is holding slightly firmer at 77%.
The costs of childcare have increased by an average of 7% in the year to February 2009. The average cost of daycare is now £145.00 per week, although there are significant local variations and costs vary from a minimum of £110 to a maximum of £220 a week. Childminding costs have risen to an average of £3.28 per hour, again there are significant variations, with hourly rates ranging between £2 and £6 across the district.
Childcare for children aged 5+
The number of schools with no linked childcare has reduced from 50 (23% of all schools) to 38 (17% of all schools) and this is an increase of 8%. The greatest growth has been among informal breakfast and homework clubs which have grown from 72 to 94 clubs. There remains a lack of provision linked to secondary schools.
Occupancy of formal out-of-school childcare places has fallen from 66% to 64%. The impact of recession has both reduced demand and increased options for informal childcare.
