Parents' Demand for Childcare, 2001

The <i>Parents' Demand for Childcare</i> surveys study the demand for childcare among parents of children aged 14 years and under. As such, they form part of the ongoing evaluation of the Government's <i>National Childcare Strategy</i>. The first survey was conducted in 1999, and formed a baseline survey for comparison with the second wave, which was conducted in 2001. A further wave is planned for 2004. Users should note that whereas the 1999 survey was conducted in England and Wales, the 2001 survey was restricted to England.<br><br>The survey series was designed to investigate the use of childcare by parents and to explore the factors that influence their decision to use childcare and how these relate to their participation in the labour market. Specifically, the aims of the research are as follows:<ul><li>to establish the level of usage and take-up of childcare by parents with children aged 0-14</li><li>to discover what influences a parent's decision to use childcare</li><li>to assess the financial cost of paid-for childcare</li><li>to assess parents' satisfaction with current childcare arrangements</li><li>to establish parents' unmet demand for childcare</li><li>to identify parents' ideal childcare provision</li><li>to assess parents' knowledge of the availability of childcare in their local area</li><li>to ascertain the extent to which their current childcare arrangements enable parents to take up paid work, education and training and what activities are associated with the use of childcare.</li></ul> Because of policy interest in a number of sub-groups of parents, for the 2001 survey it was deemed necessary to over-sample certain sub-populations. An additional sample of households was selected from the Child Benefit records, and were included in the survey if they fell into one of three groups:<br><li>student parents;<br><li>parents whose children used out-of-school clubs;<br><li>parents who received the childcare tax credit.</li><br>