Judith Cochrane MLA said: “As a working mother with two young girls, I know myself that childcare costs is one of the largest bills in our household.
“I want to make sure that all parents and guardians have access to affordable, professional and quality childcare to enable them to make it easier for them to gain access to employment. I would encourage everybody who uses childcare to take part in the survey, so that we can have a clearer picture of its cost.
“The Executive is failing in its duty to provide a childcare strategy that would ensure long term planning took place to ensure that all parents and guardians could access the best possible childcare.
“With a clearer picture of childcare costs, we can hopefully put more pressure on the Executive to deliver this strategy.”
ENDS
CHILDCARE COST SURVEY INFORMATION:
Whether parents use childminders, day nurseries, afterschool clubs, grandparents, siblings or a mix of all of the above, Employers For Childcare Charitable Group wants to hear from you.
Employers For Childcare are calling on parents in Northern Ireland to share their experiences of using childcare by completing a survey.
To be in with the opportunity to win one of four great prizes, please take a few moments to complete our annual Childcare Cost Survey.
Prizes include:
300 litres of home heating oil from Carlisle Fuels
Apple iPad 2 (16gb) from DHL
£250 IKEA voucher
£100 worth of electricity from Airtricity*
To complete the survey, please click on the following link:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/childcarecostsurvey2012
For more information or to complete the survey over the phone, please call us on Freephone 0800 028 6538.