The impact of COVID-19 on the provision of Early Years childcare in England and Wales

早年(EY)儿童保育对英国经济和社会至关重要，因为它对儿童发展和福祉有积极影响。如果不提供正式和非正式的托儿服务，父母在新冠肺炎危机期间或之后将无法重返工作岗位，这将加剧家庭内部和家庭之间的不平等。这将特别包括性别不平等，因为没有安永以及通过家庭和友谊网络进行的非正式育儿对妇女的工作生活影响最大。这项研究将在新冠肺炎的背景下解决的紧迫挑战涉及：1)提供中断和可持续性(宾夕法尼亚等人，2011年)和1/4的托儿所表示它们在危机之后可能无法重新开业(EYA 2020)。关键是要产生经验证据，说明关闭的原因和地点，关闭对家庭意味着什么，变化的安永格局及其可持续性将如何影响工作回报以及性别和社会经济平等。此外，了解这对家庭护理和非正式护理的影响也是至关重要的。在新冠肺炎之前，数以千计的保姆和保姆以及500万的祖父母定期提供托儿服务。我们将了解他们提供护理的能力，以及父母对失去非正式支持的反应以及对安永服务的影响。2)确保工人、儿童和家庭的安全环境。儿童保育需要身体上的密切接触。已经颁布了一些社会距离和安全措施，但需要更好地了解这对提供安全的EY环境构成的挑战，以及它带来的额外财务压力。迫切需要了解如何支持临床上易受伤害、可能无法重返群体环境的工作人员、儿童和家庭。这项研究试图找出：-新冠肺炎对安永托儿服务的主要压力是什么？-在新冠肺炎期间和之后，正式和非正式托儿服务的格局将如何改变？-如何确保提供足够的服务，并使提供者、工作人员和家庭能够持续和安全？-如何为安永托儿部门创造一个更可持续的未来？本项目将通过四个工作包(WP)回应这些问题和挑战：WP1：托儿所和学龄前团体提供者。一项分两波对1,000家托儿所的调查，并对两波中的25名托儿所经理和50名托儿所工作人员进行了定性采访，以捕捉随着时间的推移而发生的变化。WP2：居家托儿所人员：对500名保姆和500名保姆的调查，以及对25名保姆和25名托管员的定性访谈。WP3：父母和祖父母：对多达1,000名0-4岁儿童的父母进行的调查，以及对25名父母和25名祖父母的定性访谈，这些父母和祖父母在新冠肺炎之前为0-4岁的孩子提供至少一天的托儿服务。WP4：四个不同国家的案例研究，2-4与安永儿童保育服务的主要利益攸关方进行专家访谈，以探索其他情况下的最佳实践，并为英国制定政策吸取经验教训。该项目将首次就新冠肺炎对英格兰和威尔士不同类型的正式和非正式儿童保育服务产生的直接和长期影响产生详细的纵向证据。所产生的证据将提供迫切需要的洞察力，以了解新冠肺炎之后在英国提供可持续托儿服务所面临的挑战，以及失去正式和非正式托儿服务的潜在影响。

Early Years (EY) childcare is critical to the UK economy and society given its positive impact on child development and wellbeing. Without the provision of formal and informal childcare, parents will not be able to return to work during or after the COVID-19 crisis, which will exacerbate intra- and inter-household inequalities. This will be includes notably gender inequalities given women's working-lives are impacted most by the absence of EY and informal childcare through families and friendship networks.The urgent challenges that this research will address in the context of COVID-19 are in relation to:1) Disruption to and sustainability of provisionFormal childcare faced financial difficulties before COVID-19 (Penn et al 2011) and 1 in 4 nurseries said that they may not reopen after the crisis (EYA 2020). It is critical to generate empirical evidence on why and where these closures are occurring, what closures will mean for families, how the changing EY landscape and its sustainability will impact on returns to work and gender and socio-economic (in)equalities. Additionally, it is essential to understand the impact on home-based and informal care. Pre-COVID-19, thousands of nannies and childminders and five million grandparents regularly provided childcare. We will generate knowledge of their ability to provide care, as well as parental responses to loss of informal support and the implications for EY provision.2) Ensuring safe environments for workers, children and families.Childcare necessitates close physical proximity. Some social distancing and safety measures have been enacted, but better understandings are needed of the challenges this poses for providingsafe EY environments, and the additional financial pressures it brings. There is an urgent need to understand how staff, children and families who are clinically vulnerable, and may not be able toreturn to group settings can be supported. The research seeks to find out:- What are the key pressures on EY childcare provision as a result of COVID-19?- How will the landscape of formal and informal childcare provision change during and after COVID-19?- How can sufficient provision be ensured and made sustainable and safe for providers, staff and families?- How can a more sustainable future for the EY childcare sector be created?This project will respond to these questions and challenges via four Work Packages (WPs):WP1: Nursery and pre-school group providers. A survey of 1000 nurseries over two waves complemented by qualitative interviews with 25 nursery managers and 50 nursery workers across two waves to capture change over time.WP2: Home-based childcare workers: A survey of 500 nannies and 500 childminders plus qualitative interviews with 25 nannies and 25 childminders over the same two waves.WP3: Parents and grandparents: A survey of up to 1000 parents of children aged 0-4 years old, over two waves complemented by qualitative interviews with 25 parents and 25 grandparents who provide at least one day of childcare pre COVID-19 for 0-4 year-olds.WP4: Case studies of four different countries, 2-4 expert interviews with key stakeholders in EY childcare provision, to explore best practice in other contexts and draw lessons for developing policy in the UK.This project will be the first to generate detailed, longitudinal evidence on the immediate and longer-term impacts that COVID-19 has on different types of formal and informal childcare provision across England and Wales. The evidence generated will provide urgently needed insight into the challenges of delivering sustainable childcare in the UK following COVID-19 and potential impact of loss of both formal and informal provision of care.