Survey results measure childcare use in New Zealand

A snapshot of New Zealand’s childcare landscape showed that over half of pre-schoolers attended formal early childhood education (ECE) and care, Statistics New Zealand said today. Results from the New Zealand Childcare Survey 2009 showed that informal care options were also common for pre-schoolers. In contrast, school aged children were more likely to be receiving informal care than attending a formal care arrangement. 

Grandparents were the most common providers of informal care for both pre-schoolers and school aged children. “This confirms anecdotal evidence that grandparents are a popular choice for informal care,” Labour Market Statistics manager Sharon Snelgrove said. 

The survey also found that:

• Pacific Island pre-schoolers were less likely to attend formal ECE and care than children in other ethnic groups (29.9 percent compared to 56.1 percent).
• 81.8 percent of pre-schoolers aged 3–5 years attending formal ECE and care used '20 Hours ECE' – a government initiative that provides up to 20 hours of free formal care per week.
• The parents of 28.9 percent of pre-schoolers at formal care for three or more hours per week accessed the Work and Income Childcare Subsidy.
• The most common work-related arrangement used by employed parents to help care for a child was to have their child at work with them.
• 14.4 percent of parents who had worked or wanted to work in the 12 months prior to the survey reported that they had experienced childcare-related difficulties while working or wanting to work.

The New Zealand Childcare Survey 2009 was a sample survey of parents who had at least one child aged 13 years or less and was run as a supplement to the Household Labour Force Survey in the September 2009 quarter. 

 Geoff Bascand 30 June 2010

 Government Statistician