Published research, commissioned by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in 2005, by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) estimated that 69 per cent. of the employees receiving Employer Supported Childcare (ESC) are women (Table 4.6, Page 49). NatCen's report is available at
www.hmrc.gov.uk/research/research-report23.htm
The report also estimates the number of eligible employees offered employer supported childcare in late 2005 and that childcare vouchers represent the majority of the provision of ESC. Using these estimates along with the eligible employee take up rate for those offered ESC (on page 44) shows that approximately 63,200 women were receiving childcare vouchers at the end of 2005. Information for other time periods is not available.
The report also estimates the proportion of employers that offer ESC split by Government office region (Table A.7, Appendix A, page 19). From this, an estimated 85 per cent. of employers offered ESC are based in England and 1 per cent. in the North East of England. No such estimate is available for the constituency Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland.
These numbers should be treated with caution as the employee take up rate and use of vouchers over other forms of ESC would likely vary from region to region and this does not account for employees working in one region and living in another. All of these estimates are subject to very wide confidence intervals due to random sampling.