Research and analysis

Parents' experiences of the childcare service

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) conducted research into parents’ experience of using the childcare service.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 26 February 2026

Documents

Parents' experiences of the childcare service and their use of childcare offers

HTML

Data Tables Part 1: Childcare service customer experience survey

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 138 KB

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Data Tables Part 2: Future use of Tax-Free Childcare and Funded Childcare for Working Parents

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 53.8 KB

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Details

Research was carried out in 2025 by HMRC to understand parents’ experiences of using the childcare service. The research involved a quantitative survey with 2,627 parents. A subset of 1,003 respondents were also asked about their use of Tax-Free Childcare alongside the roll out of the Funded Childcare for Working Parents offer.

The research found that customer experiences of the childcare service were largely positive, with most rating it good overall. Many parents kept using Tax-Free Childcare alongside Funded Childcare for Working Parents and expect to keep using Tax-Free Childcare after the full roll out of the Funded Childcare for Working Parents offer.

Published 26 February 2026