Dependable childcare needed

Parents want dependable childcare and would make sacrifices to get it, according to the 2015 Modern Families Index.

The index is published by charity Working Families and “aims to capture an annual snapshot of how working families combine work and family life”. It surveyed over 1,000 working families across the UK and found that working parents neglect their own health as they put their children and older relatives first, while dealing with workplace cultures which impinge upon family life.

The research reveals that fathers appear to be more involved, with young fathers dropping off at school in greater numbers (and more frequently than mothers in the under-25 age group).

However, social structures are set up to recognise mothers: mothers are still the first port of call when a school needs to call a parent, and the workplace expectation is that mothers are “on call”, not fathers.

The report concludes that there is a clear role for employers to be more involved in the provision of childcare.

Parents are putting in extra hours just to get the job done out of a combination of work pressure, jobs growing too large to be done within “normal” hours and workplace cultures that still value presenteeism and long hours. Fathers are putting in the longest hours.

Sarah Jackson, chief executive of Working Families, said: “The study underlines the value to mothers and fathers of dependable childcare, which is often the hidden glue helping to hold busy family lives together.”

www.workingfamilies.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Modern-Family-Index-full-report-FINAL.pdf