Parents of disabled children facing 'childcare crisis'

Meanwhile 2m grandparents have given up work, reduced hours or taken time off to look after grandchildren

Eighty-six per cent of parent carers said they paid above-average childcare costs

Nearly two million grandparents have given up a job, reduced their hours or taken time off to look after grandchildren.

An Ipsos Mori poll reveals that they are giving significant time and financial contributions towards their grandchildren when national childcare costs have risen by 27 per cent over the past five years. One in eight said they had spent more than £1,000 as a result.

The poll comes as a cross-party inquiry by MPs and peers has found that parents of disabled children are facing a “childcare crisis”, with almost three-quarters of families with disabled children forced to cut back or give up work because of childcare problems.

Four in 10 families with nursery age disabled children are unable to access the free childcare due to a lack of places and funding, the Parliamentary Inquiry into Childcare for Disabled Children has found.

Eighty-six per cent of parent carers said they paid above-average childcare costs. Robert Buckland, co-chairman of the inquiry, said disabled children had been failed despite “an improving choice for other families”.