Study on Demand and Need for Night-time Childcare Services

Mr Louis Ng Kok Kwang asked the Minister for Social and Family Development (a) what data has the Ministry collected in its study on the demand and need for more night-time childcare services; (b) what are the Ministry’s findings from the study; and (c) when will the study be concluded if it has not already been concluded.

To cater to the needs of working parents, childcare centres are required to operate full-day services from 7 am to 7 pm on weekdays, and from 7 am to 2 pm on Saturdays. Childcare centres have the discretion to extend their services beyond the standard operating hours, taking into consideration demand and resources. Currently, over 40 childcare centres (or about 3% of centres) operate beyond 7 pm on weekdays.

The current arrangement meets the needs of most parents. For those working shifts or on weekends, many of them arrange for other caregivers, such as grandparents and relatives, to help out. Nevertheless, we understand that some families may face difficulties in making such caregiving arrangements.

As part of the Community Link (ComLink) pilot1 to provide greater support to families with children living in rental housing, we engaged some 650 families to understand their needs and circumstances, including caregiving arrangements. Engagements with some community partners indicated that night-time childcare services could be useful to some low-income families. We are studying the possibility of piloting night-time childcare at a ComLink site to better assess demand for and sustainability of such services.