About Daycare Trust

Celebrating its 21st birthday in 2007, Daycare Trust is the national childcare charity, campaigning for quality, accessible, affordable childcare for all and raising the voices of children, parents and carers. We also give advice – to parents and carers, providers, employers, trade unions and policymakers – on childcare issues.

Daycare Trust wants to see access to high quality affordable childcare for all children in Great Britain, where and when they and their parents want and need it, at a price their parents can afford. By ‘childcare’ we mean arrangements parents make for their children when they are not looking after the children themselves; this could be in individual or group care in a variety of settings, including at home.

Recent years have seen significant advances in childcare in Britain, in particular with the government’s National Childcare Strategy and the first ever Childcare Act in 2006. But there is still a long way to go, particularly for parents and children living on a low income.

Our vision is of a children’s centre in every community offering high quality integrated childcare and early education with a range of other services for families. Schools are increasingly important as nursery schools link to reception classes and extended schools provide a variety of services for families, including childcare for older children.

Daycare Trust campaigns for more choice for parents’ and wants to see paid parental leave, especially early in a child’s life, and the offer of flexible working conditions for all parents.

Equality, diversity and inclusion are central to our objectives and inform and underpin all our work. Identifying, understanding and breaking down the barriers to participation and belonging is key to achieving ‘childcare for all’. This is incorporated in all that we do.

For more information visit our politics.co.uk Opinion Former site or our main website, www.daycaretrust.org.uk