Coronavirus (COVID-19) roundup: 22 July 2020

ONS have published new analysis on working parents and childcare commitments during lockdown, and homeschooling during the pandemic. Some of the main points include:

• During the first few weeks of lockdown (28 March to 26 April, 2020) women were carrying out two-thirds more of the childcare duties per day than men

• This gender difference was mostly driven by the extra time women spent in carrying out non-developmental childcare such as washing, dressing and feeding children

• Between 7 May and 7 June 2020, the majority of parents (87%) said a child in their household had been homeschooled in the previous week because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

• Children completed fewer hours of schoolwork on average if they were living with a very young sibling (aged 0 to 4 years)

• Nearly two-thirds (64%) of older children said they were concerned that their future life plans will be negatively affected by continuing their education at home

Read the ONS roundup