Respondents recorded time spent looking after children in their own and other households as either a primary or secondary activity. Looking at time spent on childcare recorded in this way, women contributed to 74 per cent of the total, and men 26 per cent.

In the HHSA estimates, imputed passive care accounted for 81 per cent of total time. Results were calculated for unrecorded passive care in two ways. In households with children, all of the adults’ sleep time was recoded as passive care. Where an adult recorded the presence of a child, but childcare was not recorded as either a main or secondary activity, this time was recoded as passive care. Including the imputed time, women contributed 59 per cent of the total time spent giving childcare, with men contributing 41 per cent.

(Source: UK 2000 Time Use Survey/HHSA estimates)