Office for National Statistics
Parents in Great Britain who have been able to work through the coronavirus lockdown have adapted their working patterns around caring for their children. There were some clear trends in how that childcare was delivered.
Lockdown in the UK has presented challenges for families whose day-to-day lives were transformed virtually overnight.
At the start of the lockdown (23 March 2020), many people had to rapidly adjust to a ‘new normal’, with school closures, parents furloughed or working from home, and support from outside the home no longer available.
For millions of parents (or those in a parenting role), this included having to care for their children, including homeschooling them, while continuing to work.
Key insights:
· Parents have changed their weekday working patterns because of childcare commitments
· Parents working from home delivered most childcare in the afternoon
· During lockdown, parents spent more time on developmental childcare
· Women spent more time on childcare than men, with much of this focused on non-developmental childcare and supervising children
· Women spent much more time on childcare than men when the child was aged under five
· Parents found developmental childcare more enjoyable
· Women spent more time on unpaid work and less time on paid work than men