Care Inspectorate publishes ‘Childcare Statistics 2011’

The Care Inspectorate has today published ‘Childcare Statistics 2011’ which presents statistics on the provision and use of day care of children and child minding services registered with the Care Inspectorate as at 31 December 2011.

The main findings are:
•    The total number of registered childcare services increased by 0.5% from 10,112 in 2010 to 10,159 in 2011, reversing the slight downward trend apparent in the two years previous.  This increase is a result of a net change of 142 childminding services.
•    Around 222,360 children (24.3% of population aged 0-15 years old) attended registered services in the last full week before 30 November 2011, an increase from the 218,300 (23.9% of population aged 0-15 years old) attending in the previous year.
•    The rise in the number of childminding services from 6,107 in 2010 to 6,249 in 2011 was mirrored by a rise in attendance; around 29,150 children (3.2% of the population aged 0-15 years old) attended a registered childminding service in November 2011, compared to 28,020 (3.1% of the population aged 0-15 years old) in November 2010.
•    The number of day care of children services fell from 4,005 in 2010 to 3,910 in 2011.  However, the number of children attending day care services in November 2011 was higher than the previous year – 193,210 children (21.2% of population aged 0-15 years old) attended in 2011 compared to 190,260 (20.9% of population aged 0-15 years old) in 2010.
•    The majority of day care of children services (excluding childminders) are operated by local authorities (44.6%).  This percentage has been steadily increasing, albeit ever so slightly, since 2008.  The percentage of privately run active services has increased each year since 2008 whereas the percentage of active services run on a not-for-profit basis has decreased.  In 2011, 29% of childcare services were private and 27% were not-for-profit compared to 27% and 28% (respectively) in the previous year.