(1888PressRelease)
July 26, 2007 - THE Met Police, Volkswagen and top investment bank Schroders are some of the big names making use of the UK’s spare childcare capacity through Emergencychildcare.co.uk, which has now signed up its 50th corporate client.
Emergencychildcare.co.uk has focused on recruiting businesses and the public sector to offer the unique service as an employee benefit to help with work life balance.
It uses an online booking system for nurseries to register their spare childcare spaces. Parents can book places on an ad hoc basis with just an hour’s notice. Parents can also book nannies and childminders through the website.
Emergencychildcare.co.uk passed the 50th corporate client milestone by signing up building services group Alfred McAlpine.
Law firm Olswang and more than 30 NHS trusts also promote the service to staff.
Meanwhile the Met Police says its partnership with the service was a reason for its success at the Working Families Employer Awards.
The Met was praised for taking “a particularly forward thinking approach to supporting its staff”, including the “heavily- subsidised emergency back-up childcare scheme which everyone can use if they are called out suddenly in a crisis”.
More than 600 nurseries are on the emergencychildcare.co.uk database, including national chains such as Asquith, Teddies and Busy Bees.
The nurseries are able to offer their services on the site for nothing. When a booking is made they pay a percentage to Emergencychildcare.co.uk for filling the place. Nurseries benefit by filling a place that would otherwise have been vacant. The booking can be for just one day to several weeks.
More than 1000 childminders (all members of the National Childminding Association) and nannies from the UK’s largest childcare provider, Tinies, are also available on the nationwide service.
Parents can register on the site individually as well, but the business has put its focus on getting the corporates onboard, as employers look at ways of helping staff maintain a work/life balance.
Ben Black, director of Emergencychildcare.co.uk, said: “Childcare is an increasingly important employee benefit. We have a system here that fits in with how they want to operate and can help nurseries and childminders fill spare capacity and increase their revenue. We found that companies wanted to help with childcare problems their staff faced but needed a system that was easy to use and did not require large set-up costs.”
