The impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on childcare use for Tax-Free Childcare customers
HMRC carried out 2 surveys to learn how COVID-19 affected demand for Tax-Free Childcare in late 2020 and in 2021.
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Details
These tables outline findings from 2 short surveys carried out by HMRC to understand Tax-Free Childcare customers use of formal childcare (paid-for childcare) in 2020, and their expected use in 2021.
The survey was carried out to help HMRC forecast Tax-Free Childcare use and to understand Tax-Free Childcare customers’ intentions for using longer term formal childcare.
It included questions on:
- current formal childcare availability
- intentions for formal childcare use for the remainder of 2020, and reasons why
- intentions for formal childcare use for this year (2021), and reasons why
- workplace flexibility towards childcare
We ran 2 short surveys:
- Tax-Free Childcare customers who had an account for a child aged 3 and under
- Tax-Free Childcare customers who had an account for a child aged 5 and over
These age groups were chosen to explore change in childcare use where we would expect it to be fairly stable.
Although we cannot state that all changes to childcare across the 2 surveys can be attributed to the impact of COVID-19, we can assume that it is a key driver behind these changes, particularly given workplace flexibility/changes and informal childcare were often given as reasons for expected change.
Tax-Free Childcare customers included in the sample were those who had used their Tax-Free Childcare account (made a payment) between 1 January 2020 and 31March 2020. The surveys were sent out on 18 September 2020, with a reminder on 25 September 2020, and they closed on Thursday 1 October 2020.
There was a 25.5% response rate for the 0 to 3 survey (2,553 responses) and 26% for the 5 and over survey (2,625 responses).
We were able to use a unique identifier to add additional data to the survey responses, such as regional information and whether the Tax-Free Childcare customer was self-employed.
Results
We found that most Tax-Free Childcare customers reported having formal childcare available in September 2020, with those with younger children (3 and under) having better availability than those with children 5 and over.
For the remainder of 2020, the majority of Tax-Free Childcare customers with younger children expected to use the same number of hours of formal childcare as they did before the March lockdown. However, they were more likely to increase their hours than those with older children due to lack of informal childcare. Around half of Tax-Free Childcare customers with children 5 and over reported some change to future hours of formal childcare, with a quarter planning to use fewer hours, due to greater flexibility in the workplace.
Looking to 2021, a similar pattern could be seen, with parents and carers of younger children more likely to report an increase in their hours of formal childcare due to additional support becoming available (30 hours) and changing working hours and patterns, compared to those with older children, who planned to use fewer hours of childcare due to greater workplace flexibility.
When asked about workplace flexibility in the future regarding childcare, parents and carers of older children were more likely to report that their workplace would be flexible, as were parents living in London.