When Carly Osman-Holme’s son Teddy was at nursery, she anticipated their childcare nightmares would be over once he started school – but little did she realise they’d only just begin.
She describes their childcare situation as a “tapestry of chaos” as they desperately muddle through and says they even had to wait over a year to secure a couple of spaces at after school club.
She is far from alone as new research shared exclusively with i reveals more than half of parents (55 per cent) don’t have enough after school provision in their area and 57 per cent say the stress of juggling childcare is negatively impacting their careers.
New research by childcare service Koru Kids of 2,000 UK parents delved into the state of wraparound care and the impact its lack of availability is having on parents.
More than a quarter (27 per cent) of parents said school wraparound care doesn’t fit around their work pattern and a fifth say they cannot afford to access after school clubs.
The findings uncovered regional differences, with East Anglia being hit the hardest with 73 per cent of parents unable to access wraparound care, followed by 72 per cent of parents in Scotland and 59 per cent in the South West.
When it comes to lack of wraparound provision by city, it varied from 74 per cent of parents in Glasgow citing it as an issue and 73 per cent in Cardiff, down to 43 per cent in Oxford and 38 per cent in Belfast.
Ms Osman-Holme told i she naively believed life would improve with childcare when Teddy, now five, started school, but it is actually more difficult.
