New report calls on government to fix the gap in childcare support for postgraduate students

The GW4 Alliance is calling on the Government to extend the current undergraduate Childcare Grant to postgraduate students - helping to ensure that those with children, and from the most economically disadvantaged backgrounds, are not disincentivised from studying for higher qualifications.

The GW4 Alliance says the current provision disproportionately affects women, and those from lower income communities, in turn hampering efforts to increase the diversity of the higher education and high-skilled workforce.

Students studying for Masters and PhDs are ineligible for Childcare Grants, which are in place for full-time undergraduates to help with childcare costs for children under 15 years old. They are also ineligible for the childcare benefits available to workers unless they are in substantial paid employment in addition to their studies.

For most parents, combining postgraduate study, substantial outside work, and childcare responsibilities is incompatible. Most PhD programmes expect their postgraduate students to study full-time and some do not allow regular outside work.

In exchange, PhD students are usually offered a stipend (a fixed sum of money) to cover the cost of housing and other living expenses. However, with a typical stipend for a PhD student between £15,000 to £19,000 per year and theaverage cost of a full-time childcare place for an under 2-year-old over £14,000 a year, stipends do not provide enough money to cover living and childcare costs.

As part of the report, GW4 interviewed PhD students from its partner universities who explained how a lack of childcare funding has impacted their professional and personal lives. Interviewees stressed the importance of undertaking postgraduate studies not only for themselves but also for society, including one student who is pursuing a career in cancer research. However, they all struggled with paying childcare fees while studying, with the stipends they received being insufficient to cover their childcare costs.

Professor Evelyn Welch MBE, Vice-Chancellor and President of University of Bristol, and incoming Chair of GW4 Council said: "A diverse research community plays a crucial role in a university's ability to produce innovative and impactful research and achieve academic excellence. The best research reflects the world we live in. Research informed by researchers from different backgrounds and the widest possible talent pool, is fundamental to economic, scientific and societal progress. We support GW4's childcare campaign urging the government to extend the Childcare Grant to postgraduate students, improving access to economically disadvantaged parents and helping to diversify the research community for the benefit of all."

Kate Bowen-Viner is a mother and Social Policy PhD student at the University of Bristol. She said: "The cost of childcare is more than my entire PhD stipend. It is more than disheartening to know that PGRs are excluded from financial support with childcare because it creates a huge barrier to an academic career. It feels like previous governments have not wanted mothers to be academics."

To find out more about the GW4 Childcare Campaign, please click here: GW4 Childcare Campaign - GW4.

Notes to Editors:

About GW4

The GW4 Alliancebrings together four of the most research-intensive and innovative universities in the UK: Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. GW4 universities employ over 13,000 academic staff and educate over 33,000 postgraduate and 82,000 undergraduate students. GW4 institutions host over 40 externally funded Doctoral Training Centres and Partnerships and these are home to over 7,000 doctoral researchers. Of these training programmes, 14 are GW4 entities, and GW4 works with other universities, research institutes, businesses and charities to create a highly skilled workforce for the UK and worldwide. GW4 is committed to creating optimal research and educational environments that enable our postgraduate researchers to push forward the boundaries of knowledge and innovation.GW4 was first approached in 2023 by postgraduate students who shared the impact of the lack of childcare subsidies on their physical, mental and economic well-being and sought support in raising the issue nationally. This led to the creation of GW4's childcare campaign.

About HEPI

HEPI was founded in 2002 to influence the higher education debate with evidence. We are UK-wide, independent and non-partisan. We are funded by organisations and higher education institutions that wish to support vibrant policy discussions, as well as through our own events. HEPI is a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity.