Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) – parents' views and use: research findings 2025

10 Impacts and benefits of funded ELC

This chapter explores parents’ perceptions of the impact that funded ELC has had on their and their children’s lives. This includes the activities both parents and children have been able to undertake because of access to funded hours, and the contribution to their wellbeing.

All survey respondents who were using, or had used ELC since August 2024, were asked about the impact funded ELC had on them. They were asked the extent to which they agreed with nine statements about work, volunteering, education, caring for themselves and family, and their wellbeing. Interview participants were also asked what impact, if any, funded ELC had on them, their children and family.

10.1 Work and education

From the survey, the most commonly reported impact of funded ELC hours was on employment and thinking about future opportunities (Figure 10.1).

Base: Parents who had used funded ELC for one or more of their children since August 2024, unweighted base, n=5,754

The majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they were able to work or look for work (75%) and/or think about what they may do in the future (74%) as a result of funded ELC. This is similar to the findings in 2022 (74% and 71% respectively). A smaller proportion agreed or strongly agreed that as a result of funded ELC they had been able to increase the number of hours they work (40%), study or improve work-related skills (36%) or undertake voluntary work (17%).

These findings were reflected in the interviews. Participants noted that funded ELC hours enabled them to look for work, start work, or work more hours. For example, where the ELC provider was able to offer longer hours, respondents were able to move from part-time to full-time work, and for those with consistent ELC hours, they were able to schedule their work around these hours.

For some participants, being able to work, or work more, improved their financial position, enabling them to buy better quality food, to do more family activities or go on days out or on holiday, or to put money into their child’s savings account. This was particularly noticeable for participants who had previously been using private childcare and were now able to access funded ELC.

With the funded hours I’m obviously able to do more work from what I was able to do before. My husband is obviously able to take up more shifts because we’re less reliant on family members from what we used to be because we’re able to use the 30 hours. We have more money now for meaningful family days out, holidays, to put into savings, to help renovate our house, you know, just for a variety of different things. We’re able to…our food shopping is actually a lot better quality food because we’ve got more money to put into our food shopping now. […] Overall I would say it’s had a positive impact on everything you know. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

For other participants, while funded ELC helped them to work, they were not financially better off because they had to supplement funded hours with paid childcare, which in some instances cost the same as what they were making by working (see Chapter 9 on affordability for more information).

As evidenced in the survey, funded ELC hours did not enable all parents to work or work more hours. Some participants were unable to work due to other circumstances, for example disability or caring responsibilities. For those who were in a position to take up work, the opening hours of their ELC provider, a lack of extended hours or ‘wraparound’ hours provision, and inflexibility surrounding drop-off and pick-up times, meant that they were unable to work full-time. Some participants stated that they felt they were missing out on opportunities at work because they could only work part-time.

You miss out on stuff at work being part-time for sure, and I’ve not been able to take other jobs that I would have…I basically had one that was like ‘well we would like to employ you if you’re full-time but if you’re part-time we just can’t make that work’ and around childcare we couldn’t make that work. (Parent of a two-year-old and a three- to five-year-old)

Funded ELC hours also enabled participants to further their education, for example through online courses to help with their career, for personal development, or to help with learning English as an additional language.

In interviews, parents were asked what the impact would be if they were not able to access funded ELC. Participants said they would not be able to afford childcare if it was not funded, and in most cases this would mean they would have to reduce or stop work in order to look after their children. Some participants discussed that they would be able to afford reduced hours of childcare and therefore would need to reduce their working hours to cover the remaining childcare. Some participants reported that this would negatively impact their career.

10.2 Wellbeing and caring for self and others

Parents also reported that funded ELC hours had an impact on their wellbeing and their ability to care for themselves and others (Figure 10.2).

Base: Parents who currently use funded ELC for one or more of their children since August 2024, unweighted base n=5,754

Around one-half of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they have been feeling happier (48%), have been feeling less stressed (45%) and/or they had more time to look after themselves (45%). Around two-fifths agreed or strongly agreed that they have been able to care for other family members (39%).

In interviews, parents particularly emphasised the importance of having more time as a result of funded ELC hours. Participants used the time their children were in funded ELC for a wide range of activities. Some used this time for practical tasks such as catching up on things around the home, like housework, or their own work, which had a positive impact on their mental health.

A huge impact in particular, especially being able to access the 2-year-old placement. It’s helped me have more structure and routine at home, it’s helped me being able to work and hugely in particular it’s helped with my mental health. […] So just having the likes of a few hours to be able to breathe and have a coffee and do what’s needed to get done about the house and obviously being able to work more means there’s more money coming into the family house too. (Parent of a two-year-old and a three- to five-year-old)

Participants also used the time a child was in funded ELC to spend time with their children who were not in ELC. They stated that this quality time improved their relationships with their other children and was important for bonding with younger children. For example, one participant explained that one of their children has ASN which restricts the activities they can do as a family, and with the child with ASN in ELC it enabled them to carry out these activities with their other children.

For my youngest daughter it also gives me a chance to have one on one time with her which I might not get otherwise. It is difficult to kind of juggle the attention between the kids but on the days that [younger child] is at nursery and if I’ve got nothing on it gives me a chance to attend baby groups and things like that where I’ve been able to focus on bonding and bringing on the development and stuff for the younger [child]. (Parent of a two-year-old)

Finally, participants reported that funded ELC gave them a break from childcare responsibilities and enabled them to have more time for themselves. Parents said that they felt less stressed and as if they had a better balance in their life.

I get time to actually take care of myself, take a shower that’s longer than 10 minutes and be able to maybe go and get my haircut, which he never sits long for that, or just to do normal things. […] I feel like I’m my own person and I like being able to listen to music and just kind of relax and unwind and then normally about the time he would normally be home I start to miss him a lot. (Parent of a two-year-old)

Some participants discussed the importance of having this time for themselves in terms of the positive impact that it had on their mental health. For those who had been struggling with their mental health and were feeling overwhelmed, they emphasised that having this time for themselves had improved their mental health.

It’s just been me taking care of him pretty much, and having another person come in and help for when I was kind of lacking a bit, I was just shutting down, it really kind of saved me and him I would say. […] When you’re with your baby you can’t focus on yourself or anyone else. You’re simply just orbiting around them constantly and when he’s with someone that I trust, like the childminder, I just feel like my brain goes silent all of a sudden and it’s like a complete relief. (Parent of a two-year-old)

While the benefits of ELC described above were experienced by a range of different parents, for some groups these benefits were particularly pronounced. For example, for single-parents and for parents who were carers. A participants who was caring for their partner full-time reported that funded ELC reduced the pressure on them, provided an environment where their child was happy and able to learn and socialise, while enabling them to better manage their caring and household responsibilities.

Because I’m a full-time carer, I feel very spread thin at times […] I try my best to provide activities in the house that are stimulating…a learning environment for both of the kids […] But obviously, that can be challenging depending on my partner’s health if he has a day where his mobility is totally shot, I’m doing everything for him. But I think the nursery, it’s provided more education than I could possibly give her myself […] It takes a massive weight off my shoulders in terms of being able to have her go to nursery. I know she’s happy, I know she’s learning and she’s thriving and I can deal with some things in the home. (Parent of a two-year-old)

10.3 Variation in impacts by family characteristics

There is evidence that the impact of funded ELC hours varied by a wide range of participant characteristics. Consistent with the findings in 2022, survey respondents more likely to agree or strongly agree they were able to work or look for work, included parents in households:

• With two parents (77%, compared with 66% of households with one parent).
• With two parents in work (82% compared with 70% of households with one parent/carer in work and 46% of households with no parent/carer in work).
• Earning £60,000 and above per year (87%, compared with 65% of respondents earning less than £16,000 per year).

Households without children with ASN were also more likely than those with at least one child with ASN to report being able to work or look for work (77% compared with 66%).

However, the reverse was true for most of the other impacts. For impacts around wellbeing, caring for family and for themselves, studying and thinking about the future, those more likely to report a positive impact were parents with English as an additional language (compared with those with English as a first language), with children aged under 6 with ASN (compared with those whose children did not have ASN), single-parents (compared with two-parent households), households with no parents in work (compared with those with one or two parents in work), and those living in the 20% most deprived areas (compared with those living in the 80% least deprived areas). A full list of subgroup differences can be found in the Supplementary Tables I1a-I9c.

From the perspective of parents, funded ELC has clearly had a notable positive impact on family wellbeing and parents’ opportunities to take up work – two key intended outcomes of the ELC expansion programme. However, as the figures above note, this impact differs across different subgroups of parents. While more affluent and couple households were more likely to be able to work, it is notable that the majority of single-parents and parents in lower income households do also report that ELC has helped them work or look for work.

10.4 Impact of funded ELC on children

In interviews, parents discussed a range of impacts that access to funded ELC had on their children. It is important to note that all these impacts were also experienced by participants receiving paid-for childcare. However, without funded ELC not all households could afford to send their children to ELC; therefore, these children could miss out on the positive influence of ELC on their development.

Participants discussed the importance of funded ELC providing a chance for children of all ages to socialise with other children of a similar age. This was seen as particularly important for children without siblings, who may not have had as much opportunity to socialise with other children, for families where the parents did not have friends with children of similar ages, or families who lived in areas where there were fewer activities for young children.

[Funded ELC] providing that social kind of aspect for my daughter so she can spend some time with children a similar age to her. She’s also an only child so I think that’s quite important too for her development. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

In some cases, children had shown improvements in their social development, including children with ASN, as a result of attending ELC. For example, a participant reported that their previously non-verbal child was now speaking and interacting with others and was socialising more since starting ELC.

He was non-verbal to now speaking, it is amazing how much he has come on you know and that’s just interacting with others, socialising with others, being in a different environment and it’s just so amazing how I’ve seen him, he has blossomed. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

In addition to socialisation, funded ELC also helped children to learn key social skills such as sharing, making friends and playing well with other children, for example ‘taking turns’ with toys and activities. This in turn helped children develop their communication and behaviour moderation skills.

It’s doing his social and communication skills a big favour I think, he seems to really be coming on now, he’s paying attention to what other people are doing rather than just getting sort of stuck in his own little world. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

He is learning coping strategies on how to calm himself down and how to resolve difficulties with other children. So yeah, I definitely think it’s had a positive impact on him socially and emotionally and it will continue to do so as he gets older. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

Participants also discussed the value of funded ELC for their children’s learning. Participants felt funded ELC providers were able to offer a learning environment which they would not be able to provide at home and could support their child’s learning and a younger age.

I think it’s helping them learn as well, like they’re learning from a young age whereas I think if they were at home all day they wouldn’t really be learning much. (Parent of a two-year-old and a three- to five-year-old)

I feel like they’ve learnt new things that I maybe wouldn’t know like how to support them to learn. (Parent of a two-year-old and a three- to five-year-old)

Funded ELC was also important for children who were learning English as an additional language with parents reporting that it had improved their child’s English language skills.

I think it helps like to have that, to learn English, like when we were 6 months in the house or only going to toddler groups he didn’t speak any English at all and I think it’s part of adapting here to the UK. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

Participants also reported that funded ELC provided a routine for both the child and the family, which was important preparation for the transition to school. They said ELC helped their child get used to longer days, structure and rules.

They’ve been fantastic in helping him to accept routine and he’s learning to write his name just now and I think they’re just fantastic in helping him to understand social environments which for him is a huge thing. […] I think getting him used to routines and lunchtimes, sitting with other children, I think it’s fantastic. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

I think on the whole it is good for them to be able to socialise and get used to going to school and things like that, for them to be able to get used to the long days and interacting with different people when obviously their parents and stuff aren’t there with them. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

As illustrated by the survey findings above, some participants did not consider funded ELC to have had a positive impact on their children. Parents spoke of increased anxiety in their child, difficulties in sleeping, regression in toilet training and in more general behaviour. This applied to children with and without ASN and was primarily about how well ELC settings were able to meet the needs of children. For example, as in Chapter 7, participants talked about busy funded ELC settings and thought there were not enough staff members to cater to every child’s need.

We’ve seen a real real big change in her over the past couple of months [since starting funded ELC]. She is quite a worried kind of child now, she does get a little bit anxious in new situations or going to new places. Her sleeping was affected; she then was having multiple accidents at nursery whereby she never had had that before. […] Usually she asks the question what are we doing today and if you say it’s a nursery day today she quite often still gets upset. (Parent of a three- to five-year-old)

As highlighted in Chapter 4, longer days were not seen as beneficial for some children, particularly those aged two- to four-years-old. Some participants said that their children were tired after longer days at the nursery and felt the hours they were offered were too much for their child, particularly for children with ASN. Some participants would have liked to pick up their child earlier but could not because of their working hours.

10.5 Impact of funded ELC on wider family

When asked about the impact funded ELC had had on their wider family, responses varied. For some participants, the availability of funded ELC reduced dependency on family, particularly grandparents, to provide childcare for children not yet in school. This had a positive impact on parents who often felt guilty asking family members to help with childcare. However, even with funded ELC there were participants who still relied on family to help with childcare, most frequently with drop-offs and pick-ups at the funded ELC setting. This was often because funded ELC hours did not fit in with their working hours and employers were not able to offer flexibility with working patterns. Participants sometimes had no other option than to ask for help from family otherwise they would have to reduce their working hours to accommodate funded ELC, which had a financial implication.