Despite the expansion of formal childcare over the past 15 years, Daycare Trust's latest research has revealed that childcare delivered by family, friends and neighbours is as crucial to parents as ever, with seven million adults in the UK - 14 per cent of the population - regularly providing childcare.
Daycare Trust has been awarded money from the Big Lottery Fund to conduct a two-year study, 'Informal Childcare: 
Choice or Chance?' which seeks to map the use of informal childcare in the UK, examining why parents choose this kind of childcare, and the resulting impact of these arrangements. By 'informal childcare' we mean childcare which is unregulated.
This week we publish the first round of our research on this issue. Some of our findings will not come as a surprise to those parents Daycare Trust regularly hears from who tell us they would simply not be able to manage without the childcare that they receive from their informal support networks. However, the extent to which this army of informal carers are relied upon, and the manner in which usage varies among different groups, may well be a surprise to parents and policymakers alike.
SUPER-GRANDPARENTS
Over half of parents use some informal childcare, and as one may expect, grandparents are the largest providers of this, with 36 per cent of families being assisted by grandparents. This comes courtesy of four million grandparent carers in the UK, who provide on average almost ten hours of childcare each week.
However, the traditional image of an elderly grandmother or grandfather is blown away. Instead, it is a generation of youthful 'super grandparents', typically aged 55 to 64 and often still in employment themselves, who are most likely to regularly care for their grandchildren.
And while grandparents are undoubtedly the largest providers of informal childcare, making up 55 per cent of all informal carers, siblings, other adult relatives, friends, neighbours, unregistered nannies, au pairs and babysitters all make up a significant part of the patchwork of informal childcare that the country relies upon.
White grandparents are more than twice as likely to care for their grandchildren compared with those from Black and Minority Ethnic communities, among whom other adult relatives, particularly siblings, play a much larger role.
REGIONAL DIFFERENCES
The regional differences in the childcare being used threw up some contrasting yet understandable findings. Scotland tops the UK for the highest use of care by relatives, with a higher proportion of Scottish parents relying on siblings, grandparents and other adult relatives. Some 68 per cent of parents in Scotland have relied on relative care in the last six months, compared to just 27 per cent in London. This is due to the high levels of both international and internal migration to London, which means that many Londoners do not have access to nearby relatives.
Indeed, the London findings highlight how vital our 'army of informal carers' are in keeping the labour market functioning and the economy going. By far the largest reason that parents reported using informal childcare was to enable them to work.
Not only does London have the lowest proportion of families able to access relative childcare, it also has the highest costs for formal childcare in the country. Parents in London on average pay £1,000 a year above the national average for part-time nursery care. As a result, childcare is a barrier to work for many London families, with more women in London than anywhere else in the country (44 per cent) economically inactive due to caring responsibilities.
CHOOSING CHILDCARE
So how do parents come to decisions about choosing types of childcare? Significant numbers of parents had made a positive decision to select informal childcare, telling us that they wanted their child to be cared for by relatives or friends, that they trusted people they knew over strangers, and that they wanted their child to be cared for in their own home.
However, 46 per cent of parents stated cost-related reasons for choosing informal childcare rather than formal childcare (such as a nursery or a registered childminder). This underlines the need for formal childcare to be made more affordable, so that parents can make a decision based on what is best for their child and themselves, rather than being constrained in this decision by financial factors. Parents in the UK continue to pay more towards childcare than in any other OECD country. With families spending on average 33 per cent of their net income on childcare, it comes as little surprise that lone parents and low-income families rely the most heavily on informal childcare.
The low-cost 'trust factor' and the flexibility (particularly for parents working outside of regular 8am-6pm hours) which informal childcare offers demonstrate why it is favoured by so many parents. It also brings about many other positives, from bridging inter-generational gaps to supporting parents who are not coping.
It is perhaps for these reasons that despite an expansion in formal childcare and a legal obligation under the Childcare Act 2006 for sufficient childcare to be available locally, many parents continue to embrace informal childcare. For the most part, families are opting for a combination of informal and formal childcare, which can offer the best of both worlds, keeping costs low and offering flexibility, while helping to ensure school-readiness and development through exposure to formal early childhood education and care.
Moreover, the report found that it is quality of care rather than type that determines a child's development - and that high-quality nursery and high-quality grandparent care will both deliver positive outcomes.
CLEARER PICTURE
The work we have undertaken thus far has given us a clearer picture of the use of informal childcare in the UK. It has also demonstrated how little support there is for the contribution that these seven million informal childcarers make. This need not necessarily take the form of financial support - in fact, there is a strong sense from many grandparents that they do not wish to be paid for their labour, and many parents already have 'in kind' payments in place through reciprocal childcare arrangements with relatives, friends and neighbours.
However, there is a need for proper recognition of this informal care, and for it to be integrated with formal childcare structures, services and settings. The majority of parents use some informal childcare, yet in 2008, 20 per cent of local authority Childcare Sufficiency Assessments failed to make any analysis of informal childcare usage.
We believe that there should be greater involvement of informal carers at Sure Start Children's Centres. At present, the availability of such sessions is very limited, but by recognising this gap and responding to it, the learning environment for children receiving informal care can be greatly improved.
Many of the grandparents we spoke to as part of this study would welcome such opportunities. Tailoring some sessions to grandparent carers would encourage them to attend, and the result could benefit child and carer alike. Additionally, providing greater resources and more practical tools for grandparents would help provide a higher quality home learning environment.
While the vast majority of informal childcare is undertaken by family members or other close adults, our study shows a lack of research about both the extent and impact of care offered by other unregulated carers such as babysitters, au pairs and unregistered nannies. There is evidence that inexperienced au pairs and very young babysitters can potentially pose safety threats to children's well-being. We would like to see the rest of the country follow Scotland's lead through the licensing of nanny, au pair and babysitting agencies, to ensure that safe vetting and recruitment practices are in place.
At this stage in our project, we have begun to demonstrate exactly how much informal childcare is used. Over the next year we will be working for public policy to maximise the benefits of informal childcare and reduce any associated negative consequences, so that parents are enabled to work, carers are comprehensively supported, and every child is offered the best start in life.
Daycare Trust's research project into informal childcare, 'Informal Childcare: Choice or Chance?', will run for another year, with our full findings and recommendations due to be published in March 2012. For further information contact Jill Rutter on jrutter@daycaretrust.org.uk