Alliance response to childcare and early years survey findings

31st January 2014

The Alliance finds it interesting that while the DfE survey states over half of non-working mothers would opt to return to work if they could arrange good quality childcare, it also found that nearly three quarters of parents who have not used any childcare in the past year have not done so because they would rather look after their children themselves. Similarly, the report reveals that around 94%* of working mothers would like to spend more time with their children.

Neil Leitch, chief executive at the Alliance, said:

‘While it’s often assumed by government that all non-working parents would return to work if childcare affordability was not an issue, these statistics shows that such an assumption is overly simplistic.

“It’s unsurprising and yet still disappointing that nearly 40% of those surveyed rate affordability of childcare as very or fairly poor. The fact that so many families are struggling with the cost of childcare while, at the same time, many providers continue to operate at a loss in order to subsidise free entitlement places, is a direct consequence of the continued poor level of sector funding. Until the government starts to invest adequately in the early years — the UK continues to spend half as much as a percentage of GDP as countries such as Sweden and Denmark — the cost of childcare will remain a significant challenge to many families.

“However, it’s important to note that, despite these challenges, UK providers continue to be recognised for delivering some of the best quality childcare and early education in the world(Economist Intelligence Unit Report) and it is encouraging that the majority of parents surveyed rated the quality of local childcare as very or fairly good."

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Notes for editors

  2. *Over one-third (37%) of working mothers said they would prefer to stay at home and look after the children if they could afford it, while fifty-seven per cent said they would like to work fewer hours and spend more time looking after their children if they could afford it. Over one in five (23%) working mothers said they would like to increase their working hours if they could arrange good quality childcare which was convenient, reliable and affordable.
  3. The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
  4. Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
  5. For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website:

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