Scottish Household Survey Annual Report

31 13 Childcare Types of Childcare Overall, 79 per cent of households with a child aged two to five years used some form of childcare in 2019. Forty-one per cent of households used a local authority nursery or pre-school for childcare and, in general, use of local authority childcare increased as area deprivation increased. The use of private nurseries or pre-schools was 13 per cent in the 20 per cent most deprived areas, compared with 48 per cent in the least deprived areas. Use of playgroups decreased in the most deprived areas from seven per cent in 2018 to one per cent in 2019. The proportion of large families using no childcare increased from 15 per cent in 2018 to 31 per cent in 2019, while use of a relative or friend decreased from 28 to 17 per cent and use of playgroups from seven to one per cent. Use of playgroups also decreased in single parent 20 families from seven per cent in 2018 to one per cent in 2019. Childminder use decreased in small families from 13 per cent in 2018 to eight per cent in 2019. Hours of Childcare Used During term-time, 39 per cent of households that used some form of childcare used between 11 and 20 hours per week, with a further 28 per cent using between 21 and 30 hours. Seventeen per cent used more than 30 hours per week. Eight per cent of households used between one and ten hours per week, and four per cent used less than one hour or no childcare. During the school holidays, 38 per cent of households used less than one hour or no childcare per week in 2019. Seventeen per cent of households used both 11 to 20 hours and 21 to 30 hours, while 13 per cent used over 30 hours, and nine per cent used between one and ten hours of childcare per week. 20 It should be noted that the definition of a single parent does not make any distinction between situations where a child has regular contact and/or partly resides with their other parent and a child who solely resides with and is cared for by one parent.