Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has highlighted four major issues with UK childcare and stated that “Childcare and early education in England isn’t working – for children, parents, or providers.”

The IPPR is a registered charity and the UK’s pre-eminent progressive think tank. They conducted research with the purpose of evaluating the current challenges facing parents of pre-school and primary-school age children with regards to childcare, and to outline a new vision for childcare in England.

The research details that typical net childcare costs in the UK now rank as the second highest in the developed world. Fees have almost doubled for parents with a child under two since 2010 and the average price of a part time childcare place (25 hours) a week for a child aged under two in a nursery in Britain costs double what a typical household spend on food and drink annually. In fact, one in three parents of pre-school age children spend more than a third of their wages on childcare, as costs have consistently outstripped wage growth since the financial crisis.

Despite this, England has no coherent early years’ infrastructure. Whilst there are currently seven different schemes on offer to parents in England, they are administratively complex and significant gaps persist. Parents are expected to absorb high up-front costs when they enter or return to paid work; there is a lack of free childcare between the end of paid maternity or parental leave and a child turning two or three (when childcare costs are most expensive, as younger children require lower staff to child ratio); and even once a child commences school, childcare pressures continue as parents struggle to access or afford wraparound (outside of school hours) and holiday care as England’s childcare runs largely on a 38-week calendar.

In their paper, the IPPR set out four key challenges for a childcare guarantee to respond to and offer solutions to these challenges:

• Challenge 1: A childcare market failing to deliver on quality or access.

Recommendation - to meet challenge 1, they recommend the UK government invest significantly in childcare to expand childcare supply and drive up quality.

• Challenge 2: A gap in childcare provision for parents from the end of parental leave to the start of free hours offer.

Recommendation - to meet challenge 2, they recommend the UK government act to close the gap between the end of parental leave and the start of free available hours.

• Challenge 3: High up-front childcare costs and steep trade offs for parents getting into or getting on in work.

Recommendation - to meet challenge 3, they recommend the UK government expand its core free hours offer to 30 hours per week for all three- and four-year-olds, throughout the year – including school holidays

• Challenge 4: A lack of reliable wrap around care for children through primary school.

Recommendation - to meet challenge 4, they recommend that the Department for Education expand wraparound care through an 8am-6pm extended schools offer.

The full report can be found here.