IDS HR Study 844, April 2007

Childcare support

• Looks at the various options available to employers seeking to offer childcare support to their staff
• Covers workplace nurseries, out-of-school care, childcare vouchers and advisory services
• Includes examples of the types of childcare support provided by 27 named organisations, including one in-depth case study

Finding good quality, dependable and affordable childcare can prove critical in determining how working parents, and in particular working mothers, balance family life with employment or, indeed, whether they continue to work at all.

By offering some type of childcare assistance, employers demonstrate to staff that they recognise the often considerable financial commitment made by working parents. Moreover, by doing so, they can improve staff retention and benefit from an enhanced image as an employer of choice. By easing some of the strain – be it financial or practical – of finding suitable childcare, employers are likely to have more engaged and less absence-prone staff.

Childcare support can prove particularly attractive to women considering returning to work following maternity leave, concerned about the expense and paucity of good-quality childcare. Offering childcare assistance – perhaps as part of a broader package of family-friendly policies – can be a key differentiator in the quest to attract and retain highly-skilled staff.

The Study includes sections on each of the following types of childcare support:

• workplace and other employer-provided nursery provision
• out-of-school care, including holiday playschemes and after-school clubs
• childcare vouchers (both employer-paid and voluntary schemes using salary sacrifice) and cash allowances
• advisory services.

For each of these options, the Study discusses the benefits that can be gained by both employees and employers and provides details of how such arrangements have been implemented by a range of named organisations. The tax position is also covered.

The Study includes a detailed case study on the workplace nursery opened by Kwik-Fit Financial Services adjacent to its Glasgow call centre.