Excerpt
New research has found that parents of Special Education Needs (SEN) children are held back by a lack of wraparound childcare, leading to reduced opportunities and children not getting the support that they need.
Around 78% of parents of SEN children use before or after school childcare and around a third actually use it daily. However, for many families, there isn’t enough childcare available and for some, the childcare that is available doesn’t meet the needs of their children.
This leads to parents having to have their children home with them while they work, leading to reduced career opportunities and limited progression.
Parents are feeling a heavy toll due to childcare limitations
The research, conducted by childcare specialists Koru Kids, found that the lack of work-life balance is hitting parents hard, with 81% of parents of children with SEN admitting that they have seen their career progression or pay suffer as a result of needing to manage childcare with work.
Even parents whose children do not have SEN are heavily impacted, but especially mothers. Three-quarters of mothers believe that their career progression or pay has been negatively impacted by the lack of childcare available in their area.
Almost three-quarters of parents of children with SEN and two-thirds of non-SEN parents say they would be able to work more hours if there was better availability of after-school care for their children.
...