Scottish Household Survey: childcare topic report

Childcare Costs

This section presents the amount spent on childcare per month by households who have a child aged between two and five years that is not yet at school. It does not cover all childcare costs for the household as it only includes costs for a randomly selected child between two and five years old.

Average amount spent on childcare per month

Figure 10 shows the amount spent on childcare per household on their two to five year old child during school term-time as a percentage of their net household income. Some of the children included in this will be accessing Scottish Government or local authority funded ELC, reducing their childcare costs.

Just over half (56 per cent) of households had no childcare costs and a further quarter (24 per cent) spent less than ten per cent of their household income on childcare. 15 per cent of families spent ten to less than 20 per cent of their income on childcare, with only five per cent spending at least 20 per cent.

Figure 11 shows the amount spent on childcare during school term-time as a percentage of household income by household type. Almost three quarters (71 per cent) of single parent^[18] families responded that all of their childcare was free or funded by the local authority/Scottish Government. Small families were more likely to spend money on childcare than single parent families, with only half (51 per cent) of these households stating that they did not spend anything on childcare.

Correspondingly, single parent families were less likely to spend less than ten per cent of their income on childcare (ten per cent) than either small families (27 per cent) or large families (25 per cent). They were also less likely to spend ten to less than 20 per cent on child care than small families (six per cent and 18 per cent respectively).

Figure 12 shows the amount spent on childcare during school holidays by households using childcare for a child aged between two and five years old, not yet at school. Almost half (46 per cent) of households either did not pay for childcare or had all childcare paid for by their local authority or the Scottish Government. Almost a quarter of households (23 per cent) spent less than ten per cent of their income on childcare, while the same proportion spent ten to less than 20 per cent of their income, an increase from 15 per cent in 2018. Only three per cent of households spent more than 30 per cent of their income on childcare during the school holidays.

Figure 13 shows the percentage of households that used salary sacrifice childcare vouchers or tax-free childcare to pay for childcare for any of their children aged up to 11 years old. Almost a third of families (31 per cent) used salary sacrifice childcare vouchers and 11 per cent used tax-free childcare to pay towards their childcare expenses.