Scottish Household Survey 2025 Childcare

Main reasons for using childcare

The most common reason given for using childcare was so that parents/carers can work (68%), which was also the most common reason in other years. The next most common reasons were for the child’s social development (34%) and for the child’s learning and language development (29%). Respondents could choose more than one reason (Table 15).

The proportion of households stating that they used childcare so that parents/carers could work varied by area deprivation. 50% of households in SIMD quintile 1 (the 20% most deprived areas) gave this reason for using childcare. This increased to 71% in SIMD quintile 5 (the 20% least deprived areas), 78% in quintile 4 and 79% in quintile 3 (Table 17).

Using childcare so that parents/carers could work also varied by family type. Less than half (45%) of single parent families recorded this reason, compared with two thirds (66%) of large families and three quarters (75%) of small families (Table 18)

Overall, 26% of households said that they used childcare to help prepare the child for school, but this varied depending on the age of the child. The proportion of households stating this reason increased as the age of the child increased, from 11% of those with a two year old to 35% of those with a four or five year old (Table 16). This also varied by area deprivation, from 36% in the 20% most deprived areas to 15% in the 20% least deprived areas (Table 17).