We have added a new indicator that measures childcare accessibility in England by evaluating the ratio of childcare places to every 100 children aged 7 and under in England to Local Insight.
Reliable and affordable childcare options can significantly impact family wellbeing and economic stability. Research has shown that early years education for disadvantaged children under four has a positive impact on life chances.
Throughout the country, as innovation agency Nesta have highlighted in their work, there are affordability blackspots where childcare remains prohibitively expensive – or as this indicator from the ONS shows, inaccessible and unavailable.
We are excited to include this indicator within Local Insight, as there is nothing similar available at this neighbourhood level, and we are looking forward to seeing how the data is used – whether that is to:
Within this indicator, ‘childcare provision’ refers to childcare on non-domestic premises (e.g. nurseries, pre-schools, holiday clubs) and childminders.
Rather than measuring the number of available childcare places within a fixed boundary, this indicator counts the number of parents that can reach a provider within a 15 minute drive, or 25 minutes by public transport (including a 15 min walk).
This methodology provides some interesting insights that cannot be gleaned through other datasets. For context, evaluating the availability of childcare only considers the number of parents and providers that are within a defined administrative boundary (for example, a Local Authority) and does not account for parents who may travel across a boundary to access a childcare provider.
For each provider, a ratio of childcare places to local children is created by considering supply, potential demand and travel time to childcare services.
It is important to remember that this dataset relies on several key assumptions:
The analysis also only counts places from Ofsted’s Early Years Register (EYR). This doesn’t include:
We also have other relevant indicators on Local Insight that may be of interest, and could be complementary to this indicator:
This newly-added indicator within Local Insight is available to explore for any area type – which means that you can analyse this indicator for your wards, parishes, or the neighbourhoods in which you work.
You can also overlay your own data within the platform. For example, to build a truly comprehensive picture of childcare provision within your Local Authority or service area, you could place nurseries and other non-domestic childcare providers as points on the map – as pictured below.
Want to explore this indicator for your areas but not subscribed to Local Insight? Book a demo today and receive a free two-week trial.
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