Mothers who benefit from free state-funded childcare are less likely to look after elderly and sick members of their household, including their parents, new research shows.
This was mainly because they used the free childcare to work more hours and so were unavailable to other family members, the study showed.
Zerui Tian, a PhD researcher at the University of Oxford, analysed survey data on 3,923 mothers and 2,402 fathers of children aged three and four years in the UK, and who were entitled to 15 hours of free childcare.
He found that the mothers were 6.4% less likely to say they looked after their elderly parents or sick members of their household, largely because they worked longer hours.
Those mothers who did look after their elderly and sick household members, spent 5.2 fewer hours on this if they had free childcare, again because they spent more hours at work.
Zerui Tian told the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in Manchester today [Thursday 24 April] that his work had revealed “a hidden cost of childcare reforms, suggesting that expanded public childcare may inadvertently reduce the informal care available to other vulnerable family members.
“This decrease of non-child informal care offered by parents to the sick and elderly in the same household as a result of the entitlement to free childcare illustrates weakened affectionate bonds between family members.
“By reducing the time and effort required for caring for young children, parents, particularly women, are able to allocate more time to paid work and prioritise their careers.
“It reveals that while free childcare alleviates immediate childcare burdens, it may also erode caregivers’ capacity to support other dependants – a critical insight for aging societies balancing work-family policies.”
The entitlement did not have a significant effect on the likelihood of parents caring for the sick or elderly outside their own households, Mr Tian found.
He did not find evidence that the entitlement to 15-hour free childcare made it less likely that fathers spent time looking after elderly or sick members of their household.
- The study looked at data from 2011-13, when parents of children aged three and four were eligible for 15 hours of free childcare. This entitlement has been gradually extended since, and in 2025 it is 30 hours of free childcare for children aged nine months to five years if both parents are working. In his research, Mr Tian adjusted the data to exclude the effects of age, ethnicity and gender.
- In the UK, women are more commonly the carers in the family: based on the 2021 census, in England 10.3% of woman provided unpaid care, compared with 7.6% of men.
For more information, please contact:
Tony Trueman
British Sociological Association
Tel: 0044 (0)7964 023392
tony.trueman@britsoc.org.uk
Notes:
The British Sociological Association’s Annual Conference takes place from 23 to 25 April 2025, with more than 700 papers presented. The BSA is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales. Company Number: 3890729. Registered Charity Number 1080235 www.britsoc.co.uk
