Scottish Household Survey 2025 Childcare

Household childcare costs

This section presents costs for all children in the household aged up to 11 years old.

During school term time, 74% of households had no childcare costs, similar to 2022 and 2023. A fifth (21%) spent less than 10% of their average monthly income on childcare, with 4% spending between 10 and 20% (Table 42). Equivalent information on costs for the full household is not available prior to 2022.

During school holidays, 81% of households stated that they had no childcare costs, similar to 2023 and 2024, and an increase from 71% in 2022. Almost all other households (19%) spent less than 10% of their average monthly income on childcare, also similar to 2023 and 2024 (Table 43).

Across the full year, the majority (71%) of households with at least one child aged 0 to 11 years old had no childcare costs. However, this varied with household income. In the lowest income band (annual net household income less than £15,000), 93% of households stated that they had no childcare costs, compared with 61% of those in the highest income band (annual net household income greater than £45,000). Overall, around a fifth (21%) of households spent less than 10% of their income on childcare, but this also varied with income, from 3% in the lowest income band to 29% in the highest band. 6% of all households stated that they spent between 10 and 20% of their income on childcare, increasing from 1% in the lowest income band to 8% in the highest band (Table 44).