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<p>The Department for Education uses cost information from a number of independent
surveys, such as the Family and Childcare Trust Annual Childcare Cost Survey 2014:
<br><a href="http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/childcare-costs-surveys" target="_blank">http://www.familyandchildcaretrust.org/childcare-costs-surveys</a></p><p>
</p><p>Their findings on the costs of childcare for children aged under two years
old and those aged two years and over in England are shown in the tables below. The
survey does not identify separately those aged five years and over.</p><p>It is encouraging
to note that after 12 years of consistently rising prices, the costs of childcare
in England have stabilised for the first time. In fact, once inflation is taken into
account costs for the majority of parents have actually fallen. This means more parents
are able to access affordable childcare and support their families.</p><p>But the
Government is not complacent, and we are working to further increase childcare supply,
which will further improve choice and affordability for parents:</p><p>a) More schools
are opening their own nurseries for the first time, and we are establishing child-minder
agencies to increase the number of child-minders available.<br>b) An increasing number
of existing school nurseries are extending opening times from 8am to 6pm.<br>c) We
are also making it easier for good nurseries to grow, by removing red-tape and planning
restrictions.</p><p>The Government recently announced that the new Tax-Free Childcare
scheme will be increased up to £2000 per child and extended to all children under
12 from September next year. This will help around 2 million families.</p><p>To help
disadvantaged families, the Government has extended the 15 hours a week of funded
early education already available for all three- and four-year-olds to include the
most disadvantaged 20% of two-year-olds, and this will be extended further to 40%
from September 2014.</p><p>The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) will provide nurseries,
schools and other providers of government funded early education with extra money
for disadvantaged three- and four-year-olds. The EYPP will be £50 million in 2015-16
and the Department for Education will consult on the details of the programme shortly.<br><br>And
all families in Universal Credit will be able to receive 85% support on childcare
costs, up from 70% under the current working tax credit system. This change will see
300,000 working families getting more out of the money they earn. More and more families
will find that it pays to get a job, from taking the first few shifts back at work,
right up to working full-time.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p><strong>Average weekly childcare
costs for England</strong></p><table><tbody><tr><td> </td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Nursery
25 hours </strong></p></td><td colspan="2"><p><strong>Childminder 25 hours </strong></p></td></tr><tr><td>
</td><td><p><strong>Under two</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Two and over</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Under
two </strong></p></td><td><p><strong>Two and over</strong></p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Weekly
cost<sup>1</sup></p></td><td><p>£110.95</p></td><td><p>£106.19</p></td><td><p>£100.74</p></td><td><p>£101.51</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><strong><sup>1
</sup></strong>Source: Family and Childcare Trust Annual Childcare Costs Survey, 2014</p>
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