Little Pioneers First to Offer Option to Spread the Cost of Fees

Your Co-op Little Pioneers, which has 45 nurseries across the UK, has become the first nursery provider to allow parents and carers to spread the cost of childcare and reduce monthly bills, in a bid to help more children access early years education.

It comes as Little Pioneers polled 2,000 parents of children aged up to five on the impact of childcare costs, with four in 10 parents across the country forced to reduce their working hours.

This is despite the majority (98 per cent) of parents recognising the benefits of a child going to nursery, with the development of social skills (69 per cent), making friends (67 per cent) and building confidence (63 per cent) highlighted as particular benefits.

The study found that 71 per cent of mums and dads have seen an impact on their childcare arrangements due to the cost-of-living.

And although government-funded childcare support is making a financial difference, according to 77 per cent of those who have used it, 1 in 7 (14 per cent) of eligible families haven’t taken advantage of it.

In partnership with The Co-op Credit Union and Fair For You, Little Pioneers is offering a range of ethical finance options which allow parents to spread the cost of childcare, typically reducing monthly payments by around 40%.

The study found 52 per cent of parents would benefit from paying for childcare fees in this way – whether it be paying smaller, more regular sums or smaller sums each month over a longer period.

With Little Pioneers’ new service, a family paying £500 a month on nursery fees, for example, could see monthly bills almost halved to £260 by choosing to spread the cost over a period of between 13 months up to six years.*

Sara Dunham, Chief Officer for the early years provider, said: “We believe all children should have access to quality early years education, and we know how important this is in helping the next generation achieve their true potential, including developing social skills, building confidence and language development.

But the reality is that many parents are having to cut the amount of time their child spends in nursery and limit their own career due to the pressure the ongoing cost-of-living crisis is putting on families.

We hope that in offering more flexibility for parents by not only providing support for those navigating the new government funding, but in also developing the Play Now, Pay Later scheme, we’re helping to lay the foundations for more children to access quality early years education.”

With Labour honouring the rollout of additional government funded childcare from September 2024 and September 2025, 39 per cent of eligible parents said they are more likely to return to work as they will be more able to cover childcare costs.

However, the study also found a fifth don’t feel the 3,000 new nursery classes outlined in Labour’s manifesto will be enough to cover the existing demand.

Already, eight in 10 (83 per cent) working mums and dads are having to turn to family and friends for help with childcare, relying on their support network for two days a week, on average.

As many as 88 per cent cited the importance of returning to work, whether they’d already made the transition or plan to in the future, according to the OnePoll data.

Top reasons for this include the financial impact (43 per cent), a longing to interact with adults more frequently (32 per cent) and not wanting to let the career they’ve worked so hard for fall by the wayside (30 per cent).

Sara Dunham added: “By the time a child reaches five, they have already developed 90 per cent of their brain, so these early years and experiences lay the foundations for learning, socialising and overall confidence.

But this research shows how childcare costs are impacting families, preventing some from being able to return to work.

We know from Ofsted research that children who spend longer in early years provision go on to do better in school and beyond, so it’s not only important for mums and dads to be able to work for their own careers but to support their children’s futures through early years education.”

To further support families, Little Pioneers will also be trialling fee freezes across a number of nurseries next year, helping to further ease the financial pressure on parents.