Extended Free Entitlement (30 hours) Parent Survey summary ... · Extended Free Entitlement (30 hours) Parent Survey – summary report Overview In September 2017 West Sussex County

Extended Free

Entitlement (30 hours) Parent Survey – summary report Overview

In September 2017 West Sussex County Council will introduce the 30 hours of extended free

childcare for the working parents of 3 and 4 year olds. We asked for views and experiences of parents to help shape the operation and delivery of the extra childcare. This will also help us

improve current and future childcare for parents and their children within West Sussex. We targeted young families but also welcomed views from parents with older children to let us know how they would have used the funding if it were available to them.

Why Did We Consult

This consultation sought views on how the 30 hour extended free childcare might work best for you.

Specific aspects that we welcomed your views on were:

how places might be delivered more flexibly;

provision for children with special education needs and disabilities, and information about childcare for parents.

The survey is anonymous and all answers were kept confidential. You were asked at the beginning of the survey to consider the age of the child you will be basing your answers on,

this informed us if your answers related to current or future childcare.

Consultation opened 25 June 2016 and closed 1 July 2016 Survey questions can be found in Appendix A

Summary

Total responses: 1,292

Accessing childcare:

From the responses:

89% currently use childcare

49% currently use Free Entitlement o 73% (of these) pay for additional childcare

Additional hours

34% responded to say they use Free Entitlement and access additional hours over and above 15 hours.

15.19 = the average number of additional hours.

60% access up to, and including, an additional 14 hours per week. 40% access 15 hours and above per week.

33% access 7 or fewer hours per week (over and above 15 hours) 27% access between 8-14 hours per week (over and above 15 hours)

20% access between 15-20 hours per week (over and above 15 hours) 7% access between 21-25 additional hours per week (over and above 15 hours)

13% access 26 or more hours per week (over and above 15 hours)

Breakdown of additional hours accessed on top of current universal free childcare:

88% said they ‘definitely would’, ‘very likely’ or ‘fairly likely’ use the additional hours.

45% would split their funding over more than one provider if their current provider

can only deliver 15 hours.

46% would switch provider in order to use the full 30 hours.

For parents who do not use any childcare – 25% would consider using formal childcare

such as a nursery, pre-school or a childminder for their child if they could use 30 free

hours of childcare.

For parents currently in work, 56% would increase their work hours or look for

another job if able to use the additional 15 free hours of childcare.

20% who are currently not working would look for work to become eligible for the

additional 15 hours.

For parents with another child 39% would start using formal childcare or increase the

childcare used for other children.

Breakdown by area:

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Response by area

Use childcare by area

Switch provider by area

Response by areaUse childcare by

areaSwitch provider

by area

Chichester (Central andRural)

10% 88% 40%

Chichester (Central and Rural)

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 120%

Arun East

Arun West North

Arun West South

Arun East Arun West North Arun West South

Switch provider by area 39% 60% 64%

Use childcare by area 89% 100% 83%

Response by area 6% 0.35% 5%

Arun

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Adur East

Adur West

Adur East Adur West

Switch provider by area 46% 25%

Use childcare by area 92% 89%

Response by area 6% 3%

Adur West and Adur East

Implications from this survey are being considered against current sufficiency of childcare

mapping and capital requirement assessments.

For further information on Free Childcare, please visit our webpage

www.westsussex.gov.uk/freechildcare

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Crawley

Horsham

Horsham Rural

Crawley Horsham Horsham Rural

Switch provider by area 55% 50% 35%

Use childcare by area 89% 90% 92%

Response by area 14% 11% 6%

Horsham, Horsham Rural and Crawley

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Response by area



Response by area Use childcare by areaSwitch provider by

area

Mid Sussex 17% 89% 39%

Mid Sussex

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Response by area



Response by area Use childcare by areaSwitch provider by

area

Worthing 21% 88% 48%

Worthing

http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/freechildcare

Appendix A – WSCC Survey questions

What is the child's current age and which the following answers will be based on?

Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Under 1 year

1 year

2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years and over

Has your child regularly (i.e. at least once a week) received any childcare* in the past 6

months?

* By childcare we mean:

Nursery school Nursery class attached to primary or infants' school

Special day school or nursery or unit for children with special educational needs Day nursery Playgroup or pre-school Childminder Nanny or au pair

Baby-sitter who came to home Breakfast club After school club/activities Holiday club/scheme Ex-partner/the child's other parent who does not live in this household The child's grandparent(s) The child's older brother/sister

Another relative A friend or neighbour


Yes

No

Has your child regularly (i.e. at least once a week) received any childcare in the past 6 months from any of the following providers? Please tick any which apply

Multiple choice checkboxes (Required)

Nursery school [1]

Nursery class attached to primary or infants' school [2]

Special day school or nursery or unit for children with special educational needs [3]

Day nursery [4]

Playgroup or pre-school [5]

Childminder

Nanny or au pair

Baby-sitter who came to home

Breakfast club

After school club/activities

Holiday club/scheme

Ex-partner/the child's other parent who does not live in this household

The child's grandparent(s)

The child's older brother/sister

Another relative

A friend or neighbour

Other (please specify)

[1] Nursery school is a school in its own right, with most children aged 3 to 5. Sessions normally run for 2 ½ to 3

hours in the morning and/or afternoon.

[2] Nursery class attached to a primary or infants' school is often a separate unit within the school, with those in the nursery class aged 3 or 4. Sessions normally run for 2½ to 3 hours in the morning and/or afternoon.

[3] Special day school/nursery or unit for children with special educational needs is a nursery, school or unit for children with special educational needs.

[4] Day nursery runs for the whole working day and may be closed for a few weeks in summer, if at all. This may

be run by employers, private companies, community/voluntary group or the Local Authority, and can take children who are a few months to 5-years-old.

[5] The term ‘pre-school’ is commonly used to describe many types of nursery education. For the purposes of this

survey, pre-school is used to describe a type of playgroup. This service is often run by a community/voluntary group, parents themselves, or privately. Fees are usually charged, with sessions of up to 4 hours.

On average how many hours per week in total does your child normally spend at your childcare provider?


7 or fewer hours per week

8 - 14 hours per week

15 – 20 hours per week




41 or more hours per week

It varies

Don’t know

The government currently provides 15 hours of free childcare per week for all 3- and 4-year-olds and some 2-year-olds. Do you currently receive any free hours

under this scheme? Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Yes

No

If yes

On average, how many of the free hours are you currently using per week? Single choice radio buttons (Required)




If No

Have you previously accessed 15 free hours childcare for your child? Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Yes

No

Either answer takes you to next question:

Why doesn’t your child currently receive these free hours of childcare? Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Child too old

Child too young

Not eligible for two year funding

No available childcare to meet family's needs

No need to access


Do you pay for any hours of childcare for your child? Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Yes

No

Other not access free hours

If no, skips next question

If yes:

On average, how many hours of childcare do you pay for per week?


7 or fewer hours per week




26 or more hours per week

On which days of the week do you pay for childcare? Multiple choice checkboxes (Required)

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

In this section, we would like to ask your views on some changes to the childcare provision the government is introducing in full from next year.

Currently all 3 and 4 year olds are eligible for 15 hours of free childcare per week during term

time. From September 2017, some 3 and 4 year olds will be eligible for an extra 15 hours of free childcare per week.

The additional 15 hours will be available to families where both parents are working (or the

sole parent is working in a lone parent family), and each parent earns, on average, a weekly minimum equivalent to 16 hours at national minimum wage (NMW) or national living wage

(NLW), and less than £100,000 per year. This includes employed and self-employed parents as well as parents on zero hours contract who meet the criteria.

How likely is it that you will use some or all of the additional 15 hours for your child if these were available to you now or when you/your child becomes eligible?

Single choice radio buttons

Definitely would

Very likely

Fairly likely

Not Sure

Unlikely

Very unlikely

Definitely not

Please explain further

How likely or unlikely would you be to do any of the following if you were able to use some or all of the 30 free hours of childcare?

(Required) Likely Unlikely

I would use more

than one childcare provider in order to use the additional

free hours if my current provider

could only deliver 15 hours.

Likely Unlikely

(Required) Likely Unlikely

I would switch to

another provider to use the full 30 hours

if my current provider could only

deliver 15 hours.

Likely Unlikely

Likely Unlikely

For parents who do not use any childcare

- I would consider

using formal childcare such as a

nursery, a pre-school or a childminder for my child if I could

use 30 free hours of childcare.

Likely Unlikely

For parents who are currently in work - I

would increase my hours or look for

another job if I was able to use the

additional 15 free

hours of childcare per week.

Likely Unlikely

For parents who are not currently in work

- I would look for work to become eligible for an

additional 15 free hours of childcare for

my child(ren).

Likely Unlikely

For parents with

another child - I would start using formal childcare

(such as a nursery, a pre-school or a

childminder) or increase the

childcare I use for

my other child/ren.

Likely Unlikely

For parents who

have a partner in work - would your

partner increase their hours of work or look for another

job if they could use the additional 15 free

hours of childcare?

Likely Unlikely

Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

(Required) Agree Disagree

The additional 15 free hours of

childcare would significantly reduce

the cost of childcare for our household.

Agree Disagree

I would use the

additional 15 free hours towards the

childcare that I currently pay for.

Agree Disagree

If you have more than one dependent child please answer the following statements as well

Agree Disagree

I would only use the

additional 15 hours if I could use the same childcare provider for

all my children.

Agree Disagree

I would use all or

some of the additional 15 hours

even if it meant my children had to go to different childcare

providers.

Agree Disagree

Special Educational Needs/Disability

Do you consider your child to have special educational needs and/or a disability?


Yes

No

If yes:

How easy was it to find a suitable childcare provider for your child with special

educational needs and/or a disability? Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Very easy

Easy

Difficult

Very difficult

Please explain

Were you able to access childcare at the times and dates that were suitable for

you/for your child with special educational needs and/or a disability? Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Yes

No If no, were there any specific reasons why?

How confident are you in your childcare provider’s ability to sufficiently meet the needs of your child with special educational needs and/or a disability?


Very confident

Confident

Unsure

Unconfident

Very unconfident

If you are unsure, unconfident or very unconfident, are there any specific reasons why?

Is there anything in particular you would like the Department for Education or the Local Authority to do to better support you and other parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities?

Town

Please select the nearest town to where you currently live Single choice radio buttons (Required)

Billingshurst

Bognor Regis

Brighton

Burgess Hill

Chichester

Crawley

East Grinstead

Emsworth

Hassocks

Haywards Heath

Henfield

Horsham

Lancing

Littlehampton

Midhurst

Petworth

Pulborough

Shoreham-by-Sea

Steyning

Worthing


Other town live in

If the additional 15 hours were available to you now, or when your child becomes eligible,

please select the town(s) where you would access childcare

Multiple choice checkboxes (Required)

Billingshurst

Bognor Regis

Brighton

Burgess Hill

Chichester

Crawley

East Grinstead

Emsworth

Hassocks

Haywards Heath

Henfield

Horsham

Lancing

Littlehampton

Midhurst

Petworth

Pulborough

Shoreham-by-Sea

Steyning

Worthing


Other town access childcare

Almost done...

You are about to submit your response. By clicking 'Submit Response' you give us permission to analyse and include your response in our results. After you click Submit, you will no longer

be able to go back and change any of your answers.

Receipt (optional)

If you provide an email address you will be sent a receipt and a link to a PDF copy of your

response.

Email address:

To finish, submit your response (required)

<<end of West Sussex County Council consultation>>

Documents

Extended Free Entitlement (30 hours) Parent Survey summary ... · Extended Free Entitlement (30 hours) Parent Survey – summary report Overview In September 2017 West Sussex County