As families gear up for the school summer holidays, Coram Family and Childcare’s 18th annual Holiday Childcare Survey published today reveals significant gaps in the availability of holiday childcare in England, with drops across all categories of provision over the last year.*
The survey finds that under a quarter (24%) of local authorities have enough holiday childcare for parents working full-time, a decrease of 2% on 2022, and 23% have enough for children aged 8-11, a 7% decrease on last year. Availability of holiday childcare for disabled children has also continued to fall, with just 5% of local authorities reporting they have enough to meet local demand, down from 7% in 2022.**
Today’s survey also finds that, amidst ongoing cost of living pressures, the cost of holiday childcare across Great Britain has continued to rise, with a 3% increase since 2022. A place at a holiday club now costs an average of £157 per week, which is 2.3 times higher than what parents pay for an after-school club during term time. This means that families face costs of £943 for six weeks of holiday childcare for each school age child - £538 more than they would pay for six weeks of after-school childcare during term time.
There are significant differences in the cost and availability of holiday childcare depending on where families live, with parents in inner London paying up to 25% more for places than those in the East of England (£177 per week compared to £142). There are also huge price differences within the same area, for example in the East Midlands, where some holiday childcare places cost 104% more than the national average, while others are 58% less.
