Scottish Household Survey 2022: Key Findings

10. Childcare

The main section of these results focuses on questions asked of households with a child aged two to five years old and not yet at school, considering only that one child.

However, the results on household childcare costs and affordability include responses from all households with at least one child aged zero to eleven years old.

The results of the 2022 Scottish Household Survey are comparable with the results from surveys prior to 2020 (but not to the 2020 or 2021 surveys).

Types of childcare

There are many types of childcare available in Scotland, including:

• Local authority nursery (including pre-school)
• Private nursery (including pre-school)
• Third sector nursery (including pre-school)
• Childminder
• Playgroup
• Family centre
• A relative or friend

Some parents/carers choose to use one of the above types of childcare or a mix of two or more types. Others choose to use no childcare. Overall, 82% of households with a child aged two to five years old and not yet at school used at least one of the above types of childcare in 2022, similar to 2018 and 2019 (Table 10.1).

In 2022, the most common forms of childcare used were a local authority nursery and a private nursery, used by 39% and 28% of households respectively. A further 22% used a relative or friend for childcare. 5% used a childminder, a decrease from 10% in 2018. 18% of households used no childcare, the same as in 2018 and 2019 (Table 10.1).

Nurseries were the most commonly used type of childcare for households with a child aged four or five years old (and not at school), with 65% using a local authority nursery, and 19% using a private nursery. A child may attend one or more types of nursery. Use of a local authority nursery was lower among households with a three year old (43%) or two year old (6%) (Table 10.2). This difference by age is likely to be due to the eligibility criteria for accessing government-funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), and is likely to affect all types of childcare that provide funded ELC. The statutory entitlement to funded ELC begins the term after the child’s third birthday, although some local authorities offer funded provision earlier, for example from the child’s third birthday. Funded ELC can be accessed through local authority childcare providers, some private and voluntary providers, and some childminders. Around a quarter of two year olds are also eligible for funded ELC as they meet certain criteria, and retain this eligibility until their three year old eligibility begins. Therefore, it is important to note that not all two and three year olds are eligible for funded ELC.

Use of private nurseries generally increased as area deprivation, as defined by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), decreased. Almost half (45%) of households in the 20% least deprived areas used a private nursery, compared with 16% in the 20% most deprived areas. The proportion of households using no childcare decreased as area deprivation decreased, from 29% in the 20% most deprived areas to 8% in the 20% least deprived areas (Table 10.3).

Types of childcare used also varied with rurality. Households in rural areas were more likely to use a relative or friend for childcare (36%) than households in the rest of Scotland (19%). However, households in rural areas were less likely to use no childcare (10%) than those in the rest of Scotland (20%) (Table 10.4).

Small families were more likely to use a private nursery (35%) than single parent families (20%) or large families (15%) (Table 10.5).

Hours of childcare used

During term time, 41% of households that used some form of childcare used between 21 and 30 hours per week, an increase from 28% in 2019. A further 22% used between 11 and 20 hours per week, a decrease from 39% in 2019 and 45% in 2018. 17% of households used more than 30 hours per week (Table 10.7). Households with a two year old were less likely to use between 21 and 30 hours per week (26%) than households with a three year old (49%) or a four or five year old (44%) (Table 10.8).

During the school holidays, 32% of households used no or less than one hour of childcare. 22% used between 21 and 30 hours per week, and 17% used between 11 and 20 hours (Table 10.11).

Main reasons for using childcare

The most common reason given for using childcare was so that parents/carers can work (72%), which was also the most common reason in 2018 and 2019. The next most common reasons were for the child’s social development (25%) and for the child’s learning and language development (21%) (respondents could choose more than one reason) (Table 10.15).

Overall, 17% of households said that they used childcare to help prepare the child for school, but this varied depending on the age of the child, with around a fifth of households with a three year old (21%) or a four or five year old (20%) stating this reason, compared with only 8% of households with a two year old. There was also variation by age in the proportion of households stating that they used childcare to give the child the opportunity to try new activities and experiences, with 2% of households with a two year old and 3% of those with a three year old stating this, compared with 14% of households with a four or five year old (Table 10.16).

Use of funded childcare

As highlighted above, all three and four year olds, and an estimated quarter of two year olds, are entitled to ELC that is funded by the Scottish Government. The statutory entitlement begins the term after the child’s third birthday, although some local authorities will start provision from the date the child turns three. Two year olds are eligible for funded ELC if they meet certain criteria and they remain eligible even if circumstances change and they no longer meet the two year old eligibility. Some children may also receive funded ELC at the local authority’s discretion. Funded ELC reported on here is a combination of both types. From August 2021, the statutory entitlement was 1,140 hours per year. Prior to this children were entitled to 600 hours per year, but may have been offered or provided with more at the discretion of the local authority. The increase to 1,140 hours was due to occur in August 2020 but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, many local authorities rolled out the expanded provision as planned so may have been offering the full entitlement prior to August 2021.

Overall, 57% of households stated that their child was entitled to funded ELC, but this varied greatly by age. Only 14% of households with a two year old stated that their child was entitled to this, compared with those with a three year old or a four or five year old (both 76%). 12% of households with a three year old and 7% of households with a four or five year old stated that their child was not eligible for funded ELC compared to 72% of two year olds. 14% of all households stated that they did not know whether their child was eligible (Table 10.19).

Of those entitled to funded ELC, 82% said that they receive it during term time (Table 10.20) and 87% said that they receive it during the school holidays (Table 10.27). During term-time, around half (54%) said that they use between 21 and 30 hours per week, with a further 26% using between 11 and 20 hours per week (Table 10.23). Approximately half (48%) used these hours across five or more days, with around a quarter (26%) using them across three days (Table 10.25).

During the school holidays, 37% of those receiving funded ELC used between 21 and 30 hours per week, with an additional 37% using between 11 and 20 hours per week (Table 10.28). 43% used these hours across three days, with 31% using them across five or more days and 19% across one or two days (Table 10.29).

Across the full year, 46% of households receiving funded ELC used the full entitlement of 1,140 hours, with 39% using less than this. The remaining 15% did not know how many hours they used annually (Table 10.26).

Views on funded ELC

Of households using funded ELC, 93% were either very or fairly satisfied with it, broadly the same as in 2019 (91%). Only 1% of households were dissatisfied with the funded ELC they received (Table 10.30).

When asked about issues in using funded ELC, the most common reason was not enough funded hours to meet the household’s needs (10%), although this has decreased from 20% of households in 2018. Lack of flexibility in the days or times offered (9%) and not enough places available locally (6%) were other common issues noted (respondents were able to select more than one issue). Lack of provision in the school holidays was noted by 6% of households, but this has decreased from 13% in 2019 and 19% in 2018. However, the majority of households (71%) stated that they did not have issues with funded ELC, an increase from 61% in 2018 (Table 10.31).

Parents and carers were also asked if they agreed with the following statements regarding their funded childcare provider: “They give me good ideas for ways to help my child learn” and “They communicate with me regularly about my child’s progress”. The vast majority of households (84% and 93% respectively) stated that they either strongly agreed or tended to agree with these statements. 6% either tended to disagree or strongly disagreed with the first statement, and 4% tended to disagree or strongly disagreed with the second (Table 10.33, Table 10.34).

Childcare costs for one pre-school child aged 2+

This section presents the amount spent on childcare per month, by households who have a child aged between two and five years old that is not yet at school, for that child only. It does not cover childcare costs for any other children in the household, even if there are other children within that age group.

During term time, almost two thirds (64%) of households stated that all the childcare they used was free or funded by the local authority/Scottish Government. This is an increase from 2019, when 56% of households said this. 8% of households stated that they spent between 10 and 20% of their income on childcare, a decrease from 15% in 2019. A further 23% spent less than 10% of their average monthly income on childcare, broadly the same as in 2019 (24%) (Table 10.36).

During the school holidays, a smaller proportion of households (53%) stated that all childcare was free or funded. A further 28% spent less than 10% of their average monthly income, and 12% spent between 10 and 20% (Table 10.37).

Across the full year, almost two thirds of households (63%) stated that all childcare was free or funded, an increase from 50% of households in 2018. Around a fifth (19%) spent between £1,000 and £5,000 on childcare annually and a further 10% spent between £5,000 and £10,000 annually. A small proportion spent less than £1,000 (5%) or more than £10,000 (3%) annually (Table 10.35).

Household childcare costs

This section presents costs for all children aged up to 11 years old.

During school term time, 76% of households had no childcare costs. Around a fifth (19%) spent less than 10% of their average monthly income on childcare, with 4% spending between 10 and 20% (Table 10.39). Equivalent information on costs for the full household is not available for 2018 or 2019 and so no annual comparisons can be made.

During school holidays, 71% of households stated that they had no childcare costs, with almost all other households (28%) spending less than 10% of their average monthly income (Table 10.40).

Across the full year, almost three quarters of households (73%) had no childcare costs, with around a fifth (19%) spending less than 10% of their average monthly income. A further 5% spent between 10 and 20% of their income on childcare (Table 10.41).

When asked if they used salary sacrifice childcare vouchers, tax-free childcare, tax-credits, universal credit, or student support to pay for childcare, more than half of households (59%) said that they did not. Around a fifth (21%) used tax-free childcare, with a further 14% using salary sacrifice childcare vouchers (Table 10.38).

Affordability of childcare

All households with at least one child aged up to eleven years old were asked how easy or difficult they found it to afford childcare.

More than half said that they found it easy (16%) or very easy (37%) to afford childcare, with a further quarter (24%) stating they found it neither easy nor difficult. However, 9% of households said they found it difficult to afford childcare, and 5% found it very difficult (Table 10.42).