The Coram Holiday Childcare survey is based on surveys from local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales, which were returned to Coram Family and Childcare between April and June 2023.

This report, its 18th annual one, provides detail on the cost and availability of childcare in the UK for children aged 4 to 14 years during the 13 weeks of school holiday per year.

Access to holiday places is becoming increasingly harder. According to the report less than a quarter of local authorities in England have enough holiday childcare provision for parents working full-time and availability for disabled children in England has also continued to fall, the report stated, Coram stated, with just 5% of local authorities reporting they have enough to meet local demand, down from 7% in 2022.

Coram Holiday Childcare: Costs continue to rise

The cost-of-living crisis s having a catastrophic impact on the sectors ability to continue to deliver holiday places for an affordable price across the UK.

The Coram Holiday Childcare survey highlighted that the average cost of holiday childcare is £157 per week in the UK. This is a 3% rise since 2022.

The price increases are highest in Wales (9%) followed by Scotland (7 %) and then in England (3%). Furthermore, there is significant variation in holiday childcare prices across the English regions, ranging from £142 in the East of England to £177 in Inner London; a price difference of £35
per week.

Purnima Tanuku OBE, chief executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), said: “High quality holiday childcare and early education supports children with their learning, development, wellbeing and social skills while also enabling parents to work.

“As we have seen in Coram’s report, holiday care is still too expensive and there isn’t enough provision to cover demand, especially for children with special needs.

“The reason it is so expensive is because there is no government funding for working parents during holidays apart from the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which offers a lifeline to those from deprived backgrounds.

“Many nurseries offer holiday activities for school-aged children but have to charge the actual cost of delivering these places. They already have a shortfall between funding and delivery costs that the Government gives them for pre-school children’s places. If this was remedied, holiday childcare costs could potentially be lower for parents.”