Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The introduction of the National Childcare Strategy in 1998 marked a radical shift in government policy and for the first time put childcare provision firmly on the political map. Since then a wide range of childcare initiatives and funding streams have been introduced, and hence there is a need for regular data to aid the evaluation of recent policy interventions in these areas. The Childcare and Early Years Provision survey series is divided into two survey strands: the Parents’ Survey and the Providers’ Survey. The Parents’ Survey provides data on parents’ take-up, views and experiences of childcare. Families in England are randomly selected from the Child Benefit Records and all parents had children aged 0-14 years. They are asked about their use and experiences of childcare for all children in the family and to give more detailed information about childcare for a particular child (selected at random where there is more than one child in the family). The current Parents' Survey series replaces two previous surveys: the Survey of Parents of Three and Four-Year-Old Children and Their Use of Early Years Services (conducted between 1997 and 2002) and Parents' Demand for Childcare, conducted in 1999 and 2001 (see SNs 4380 and 4970 respectively). The Providers' Survey monitors the characteristics and development of childcare and early years providers and the workforce in England. Information was collected on the number and characteristics of providers, the characteristics of the children enrolled, workforce composition, qualifications and training, recruitment and retention, and business operation. The 2016 survey underwent an extensive redesign, which means findings are not comparable with previous surveys.The 2020 survey was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic Further information is available on the GOV.UK Childcare and Early Years Statistics webpage.Special licence dataAdditional, more detailed variables from the Providers' Survey in 2018, 2019 and 2021 are available under Special Licence (SL). The SL data have more restrictive access conditions than those made available under the standard End User Licence (EUL) agreement. Prospective users of the SL version will need to complete an extra application form and demonstrate to the data owners exactly why they need access to the additional variables in order to get permission to use that version. Users are advised to consult the EUL version first and the list of variables available under each study before applying.
The Childcare and Early Years Provision: Providers’ Survey, 2011 collected information on the number and characteristics of providers, the characteristics of the children enrolled, workforce composition, qualifications and training, recruitment and retention, and business operation. The 2011 survey covered both childcare (full day care, sessional care, out-of-school care, childminders and children’s centres), and early years settings in maintained schools (nursery schools, primary schools with nursery and reception classes and primary schools with reception but no nursery classes). Further information about the 2011 survey may be found on the Department for Education Childcare and Early Years Providers Survey, 2011 webpage. For the second edition (February 2013) revised versions of the hierarchical and non-hierarchical childcare data files were deposited, with previous weighting variable issues resolved. The documentation has been updated accordingly.
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The datasets contain information on childcare and early years providers, including data on:provider characteristics (ownership, opening times, length of operation, free early education sessions)number of places and children attending (number of places, ages, ethnicity, vacancies)staff characteristics (number of staff, demographics of paid staff, pay, hours) qualifications (qualifications held and working towards by paid staff) training (current level of training) recruitment and retention (level of recruitment, retention rates, vacancies)income (income, fees, funding, childcare vouchers, tax credits, business performance) To minimise burden, the Providers Survey alternates between a full questionnaire and a reduced questionnaire (that focuses only on the key measures) on a two yearly cycle. The 2011 survey employed the reduced questionnaire, which means that not all of the variables covered in the 2010 report appear in this year's version. The data cover group-based childcare settings (full day, sessional, holiday and after school), childminders and early years settings (primary schools with nursery/reception classes and nursery schools).
Multi-stage stratified random sample
Telephone interview
