MNHQ here: Fill in our NEW childcare survey

[JuliaMumsnet]

Hello, hello

As you might have heard, the Government chose International Women's Day on the 8th March to reject the call by 100k parents to do a review into childcare - which as we all know is a huge issue for mums, really squeezing families financially and pushing women out of work and making issues like the lack of women in senior roles and the gender/sex pay gap worse.

Last September we released our survey with partners such as Pregnant Then Screwed which asked more than 20k parents/mums about their experience of childcare. We're doing another survey with Pregnant Then Screwed which will also look at how childcare affects the cost of living and ask parents whether costs have risen in the past year.

[EDIT: Please only fill in the survey if you have a child who is under 5)

The survey is HERE.

Please fill it in and pass it on to any other parent using childcare.

Thanks!

MNHQ

If you don't have a child under 5, the survey ends. Most of the mums I know ow who don't work, including me, are SAHMs to school age children and we don't work due to the cost and/or lack of availability of wrap around and school holiday care (a particular issue for many is the lack of SEN wraparound childcare). It's disappointing that our experiences and views aren't going to be counted in the survey.

Oh. You could have warned us you only want parents of under 5s.

I don’t think any of the options offered at the end are the right approach. I think childcare should be much better subsidised so that it is affordable for parents (but not generally entirely free).

I think that a properly paid, stable, well trained childcare workforce matters a great deal - which increases the need for subsidy. The free hours need to be funded at an appropriate rate - at the moment providers have to charge higher fees to make up for the DfE rates being totally inadequate.

Why is this just looking at childcare for babies and toddlers?

It's a badly designed questionnaire clearly aiming to receive only the responses they would like to hear.

What has not been acknowledged is that the vast majority childcare providers are women, usually mothers. To force down already low wages in the sector is untenable.

I’ve found childcare to be more of a challenge after age 5, which is not covered here. For us it’s not just cost but lack of availability.

The questions are too loaded. Alot didn't have the right answer I wanted and didn't allow me to answer what I wanted.

This is true. If a research is brought that questionnaire to me, I’d say that it was extremely leading and directive.

Thing is, it doesn’t have to be leading and directive for people to report that childcare is expensive - sometimes prohibitively so - and families struggle with the expense, particularly before any meaningful government subsidy comes in to play.

All the poor design of the survey does is make it easy to dismiss the data.

After school childcare is the killer.....especially now that there are no au pairs. Simply, having an official au pair programme, like the majority of other countries would significantly help.

Childcare after age 5 is a massive issue and you’re excluding it from the information being gathered? Before school age at least there is childcare available 7am til 6pm so women can go to work (albeit at huge cost). After age 5 the issue with wraparound care and school holiday care are enormous, with availability, flexibility, hours, costs etc, and this is when many women are forced to drop out of the workforce. You can’t ignore childcare over 5 surely?

Childcare is expensive, but in my area the only nursery with a long waiting list is the one charging the most ( and it's not even rated outstanding ) it just markets itself very well. Parents could easily find cheaper childcare - which would be just as good - but this nursery is seen .locally as the trendy one.
just another view on the debate.

And agree about childcare for the over 5's, but it doesn't take up so much of a parents income so that's probably why it's not included in the survey.

Agree the options at the end are too limited. I think childcare should be subsidised to a greater extent but not free. And parents should be able to access subsidised childcare as soon as parental leave ends, not waiting until the term after the child turns 3.

Come on - you can't really expect it to be taken seriously as a piece of research with this kind of thing?! I did the previous survey too and also found that really leading - it so obviously is trying to get particular answers that it can be easily dismissed, which is a shame.

I found out today from a mortgage lender I am unable to get a mortgage due to my childcare costs

Oh. Wish you’d said you didn’t want over 5s perspective before I wasted my time answering all the personal questions.

Thanks "Hospedia" as I read your comment with it being the first one, as I was just about to start the survey. My 2 children are nearly 40 years of age, and I had a childminder when they were very young as had to go back to work - no choice in the matter - so went back to work after my 2 child as had no family nearby us in those days.

My only comment is that a child of any age is "sometimes" a challenge with finances as there is always something that comes along, like few weeks ago my son had car crash and needed £250 to pay on the policy excess as technically he was at fault on some slight damage for not braking in enough time after coming off a night shift with it being a works vehicle so he asked could we help out by us paying £50 that he was short of, then the following week a guy reversed into us while we were stationary and has not as yet accepted liability so we had to pay excess for now until it gets resolved, then will get money back, so yes, there is always something to fork out for within a family unit/life unfortunately.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat

It's a badly designed questionnaire clearly aiming to receive only the responses they would like to hear.

What has not been acknowledged is that the vast majority childcare providers are women, usually mothers. To force down already low wages in the sector is untenable.

I made a similar comment at the end - childcare providers are notoriously underpaid. They should be rewarded for their work, which is skilled and caring. Subsidy shouldn't just benefit parents.

@PhileasPhilby

Oh. Wish you’d said you didn’t want over 5s perspective before I wasted my time answering all the personal questions.

Sorry @PhileasPhilby! Have updated OP to make that clear.

@HardbackWriter

Come on - you can't really expect it to be taken seriously as a piece of research with this kind of thing?! I did the previous survey too and also found that really leading - it so obviously is trying to get particular answers that it can be easily dismissed, which is a shame.

I cringed at this too. I'm trained in research design and agree thoroughly that this questionnaire (whilst addressing an important topic) is very badly designed. Far too leading and not enough options to give parents their own voice. For example the cost of childcare has impacted my work and life in ways that haven't been captured as there weren't adequate response options. I'm also not sure that my solution would be any of the ones presented at the end?

If you earn enough, childcare for under 5s isn't a problem - there's multiple ways to make it work, you can afford to pay for good quality options and it's available 10 hours a day, 51 weeks a year. School is a whole different ball game and it's a lot harder to throw money at the problem.

Maybe that demographic is a survey for another day.

I also agree that my preferred solution was not available at the end. Much more heavily subsidised childcare, not free and not necessarily means tested.

Gender?

This survey should increase the age groups of those who use childcare and should also ask the perspective of the childcare providers. I've been a registered childminder for 10+ yrs and the effects of insufficient help for parents towards costs and the severely underfunded funding for the 15 & 30 hrs adds weight to the cost for those parents who don't qualify for help towards costs.

When I first started most of my parents wanted and could afford some with help the cost of a full time space now I do not have a single child who is full time. I'm in a minefield of juggling flexibility for parents and trying to slot any new children into spaces which isn't easy.

In all the years I've been minding I've put my fees up once begrudgingly but it was a necessity otherwise with the rising cost of living I would've had to close as many have done so already.

Costs of childcare is a two sided story and providers and parents should unite and be heard instead of attacking one another. I can see both sides and try to help parents access all the help they may be entitled too but it's not enough and neither is the funding for the funded hours.

Poorly structured survey, mumsnet. D- for effort…

And whilst the childcare for my toddler is the most crippling in cost, it’s the logistics of the childcare for school aged children which is the one which has led me to think about radically downsizing my career.