Background to the Research

• The GSDA was concerned to identify the existing need for childcare services in the Greater Shankhill area and to assess the response to their proposal that a community childcare facility be established locally. A primary objective of the Agency was also to assess the extent to which childcare problems had inhibited women from taking up employment or pursuing education or training opportunities.

Research Approach

• A simple random sample of households in the Greater Shankhill area identified households where there was one or more child(ren) aged under 14 years. The primary carers of 203 households were then interviewed. The full set of 203 households between them contained a total of 502 children, representing approximately 9% of the total number of children under 14 in the area as a whole.

Main Findings

• In over half the households in the sample there was no-one bringing in a wage.
  
  
• There are high proportions of lone parents bringing up children in the Shankhill - 43% of the sample overall.
  
  
• Lone parents are mainly women in their 20s and 30s who are bringing up one, two or three children on very low incomes - over 80% have incomes of no more than £110 per week.
  
  
• Two-parent families are also poor. In more than one third of these incomes are £110 or less per week.
  
  
• Only one household in three has access on a regular weekly basis to any kind of childcare arrangements.
  
  
• Where childcare is arranged, there is a heavy reliance on family members - only 7% pay for childcare and very small sums are involved.
  
  
• Half of the pre-school children attend nurseries, playgroups or parent/toddler groups, but less than 40% of older children are involved in organised activities outside school hours.
  
  
• Church/uniformed organisation are the most frequently used facility for older children.
  
  
• Just one in five parents are able to regularly use after-school or holiday provision for their children.
  
  
• Two out of three parents of young children are dissatisfied with the amount of provision and over three-quarters of parents of older children were dissatisfied.
  
  
• Shopping and visiting friends and family are the activities that take most women out of the home. Less than 30% are regularly involved in the more usual community or leisure activities.
  
  
• Few regularly visit clubs or pubs or engaged in sports or other activities. One in four had not participated in any social/leisure activity at all in the last month.
  
  
• Three out of four were not currently in paid work, and two out of three of those have not had a job for over five years.
  
  
• Around 30% of women want a job, and half of lone mothers do.
  
  
• Those at work have low paying, mainly part-time jobs. Women not currently working had a wider range of jobs (sometimes more skilled) than those currently in work.
  
  
• Nearly half of the women had consulted a doctor for their own health in the last six months, and approximately one in five reported suffering from stress, depression and poor physical health.
  
  
• In 19% of households parents were coping with an illness/disability in a child which would need to be taken into account if the child were to cared for by others.
  
  
• Over half of the women (57%) said lack of childcare had restricted their opportunities for employment.
  
  
• Half of those not in work would look for work immediately or within the next year if childcare were available.
  
  
• Substantial numbers said lack of childcare had affected leisure (30%), education (11%) and training (16%).
  
  
• Only 14 women in the sample (7%) were taking an education or training course and more than 70% had no education or training qualifications on which to build.
  
  
• Over 40% said they would be interested in taking up education if childcare were available, half in the 26-35 age group.
  
  
• Nearly one third selected a community day-care facility as their preferred form of care for their children.
  
  
• As many as 90% said they would be interested in a full-time, professionally managed daycare facility if it were available.
  
  
• There is a demand for care in such a facility for all age groups of children.
  
  
• The greatest demand is for after school-care for 6-11 year olds - over 60% want this, and three quarters want school holiday provision.
  
  
• Eighty per cent saw daycare as giving benefits for the children and 70% saw it as giving women time for themselves.