Children, Schools and Families written question – answered at on 23 February 2009.
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what the average hourly cost of childcare in (a) London and (b) the rest of England was for different age groups of children in the latest period for which information is available.
The Childcare and Early Years Survey of Parents collects information on parents' use, views and experiences of child care and early years provision, including information on costs of child care. When reporting the costs of childcare, parents were asked to include payments made directly by the family and payments made by an external source, for example money paid by employers, the local authority, or an ex-partner. Therefore the costs recorded in the survey are not costs that parents actually pay for child care as they include help that is available through tax credits, childcare vouchers and the free entitlement for three and four-year-olds.
Table 1 shows the figures from the 2007 survey on the hourly costs of child care by region. Regional data on the hourly cost, by the age of the child are not available due to small sub-sample sizes at the regional level.
Table 1: Hourly cost of child care (including subsidies), by region | |
Mean hourly cost (£) | |
All children | 2.58 |
North East | 2.35 |
North West | 2.05 |
Yorkshire and the Humber | 1.95 |
East Midlands | 1.96 |
West Midlands | 2.48 |
East | 2.51 |
London | 3.50 |
South East | 3.03 |
South West | 2.27 |
Notes: 1. Based on all children paying for child care used in last week. 2. Figures include subsidies, eg money paid by employers, the local authority, or an ex-partner. |
Table 2 shows the hourly costs of child care by the age of the child in 2007.
Table 2: Hourly cost of child care (including subsidies), by age of the child | |
Mean hourly cost (£) | |
All children | 2.58 |
Age of child | |
0-2 | 3.23 |
3-4 | 2.13 |
5-7 | 2.50 |
8-11 | 2.50 |
12-14 | 2.31 |
Notes: 1. Based on all children paying for child care used in last week. 2. Figures include subsidies, eg money paid by employers, the local authority, or an ex-partner. |
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
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