Childcare use and attitudes

Literature review and feasibility study

This literature review & feasibility study looks at parents’ use of and attitudes towards formal childcare and early education.

Aim 

This report commissioned by Save the Children reviews the evidence on parents’ use of and attitudes towards formal childcare and early education in the UK.

The study identifies evidence gaps and assess the scope for further research on:

• current childcare policy and the childcare market,
• patterns of formal childcare use, and
• attitudes towards quality in formal childcare. 

This research is intended to inform policy work to improve access to formal childcare for low-income parents in order to reduce child poverty through increased maternal employment.   

Methodology

A literature review and a data scoping exercise covering childcare policy and childcare use and attitudes among families in the four nations of the UK.

The literature review drew on key methodological principles of rapid evidence assessments to ensure the most relevant sources of evidence and key literature were identified.