The Out of School Alliance conducted a survey of its members and other providers of wraparound care (before, after-school and holiday clubs) from 16th December to 14th January 2021. The aim was to follow-up on our previous three surveys (conducted in November 2020, the middle of May and in early August 2020), to see how providers are faring now and to highlight the risks to the sector as we move out of the pandemic.
Providers continue to suffer from the increased costs of operation during a pandemic, with further cost increases to both the National Living Wage and National Insurance contribtions likely to impact further throughout 2022. when taken with changed demand profiles from families due to changed working patterns and the legacy of home working, providers report that they are highly likely to increase prices to parents soon.
Some providers have been fortunate and resilient enough to identify opportunities for growth or have idenitifed way of operation that has benefited their viability. However this is in the minority and most providers continue to operate in a deficit position.
Providers continue to report that a lack of the targeted financial support enjoyed by other sectors and out of school clubs in other nations of the UK, has led to an exceptionally risky situation where business owners have leveraged their own income and personal debt to enable them to continue operating. This level of commitment should not be taken lightly and whilst the sector may appear resilient, that does not mean they are not struggling.
Unsurprisingly, providers continue to report the negative personal impact of continuing to keep ther settings open during the past two years, with almost all respondents noting high levels of stress, anxiety and worry, with many clubs facing a bleak future.
Download the survey report
You can download a copy of the latest survey report (December 2021) here:
Impact of Covid-19 on OSCs: December 2021 survey
Previous surveys
You can download a copy of the third survey report (November 2020) here:
Impact of Covid-19 on OSCs: November survey
You can download a copy of the report from our first follow-up survey (August 2020) here:
Impact of Covid-19 on OSCs: follow-up survey
You can download a copy of our first survey report (May 2020) here:
Impact of coronavirus on out of school clubs