Report Recommends Childcare Reform

The government’s plans to force lone parents back to work will fail unless more is done to expand childcare outside normal working hours, according to a new report. Lack of available childcare is the main barrier to lone parents working, according to research published in the wake of government proposals to make single parents on benefit look for jobs when their youngest child turns seven.

{mosimage}Childcare charity the Daycare Trust spoke to lone parents across England and found care and activities outside school hours were too expensive, too inflexible, or non-existent. The report recommends a home-based service – suggesting a bank of registered childminders who could look after children in their own homes. Such a scheme exists in Scotland, developed by charity One Parent Families with funding from the Scottish Executive.

Daycare Trust’s joint chief executive, Emma Knights, said: “To support these parents in bringing up their children, the government needs to go much further in subsidising and providing childcare – and in giving parents rights to flexible, family-friendly working conditions. Lone parents need to know their children will be happy and well cared for.”

She added that by the time their children were at secondary school, a large majority of single parents were at work, and there were often good reasons for those who were not – a child with a disability, or caring responsibilities for elderly parents, for example. “We support the right of every parent – including those on benefits – to make that choice [not to work], and are pressing for the government to protect it,” she said.

The report, Listening to Lone Parents about Childcare, comes in the wake of government proposals to make single parents on benefit look for work when their youngest child is 12 by 2008, falling to the age of seven by 2010. The research, published yesterday, reveals the quality of childcare is a particularly crucial factor to lone parents. It also flags up the hardship faced by lone parents who have extra responsibilities caring for an elderly parent or relative.

Researchers spoke to single parents in four focus groups across England. They found the lack of appropriate childcare for 10-14 year olds was a major barrier for parents who wanted to go back to work. Aoife Fitzpatrick, Daycare Trust’s research officer, said: “Parents spoke of feeling reluctant to leave their children at home alone, but in many cases they felt they had no choice. Other parents felt that childcare places for this older age group were not geared to their needs and interests.”

One lone mother in Birmingham said: “At the age of 11, you can’t leave them. You shouldn’t really be leaving them until they’re 14. So what am I supposed to do? Do I now accept that I can’t work for the next three years?”

The charity wants funding for out-of-school childcare to be increased. The Department for Children, Schools and Families is putting an extra £265m into the extended schools programme, but the Daycare Trust believes more is needed. It wants the government to subsidise out-of-school activities for all 11-14s, and for younger children from poorer families, aiming ultimately to make them free.