Employers offered childcare back-up arrangements

Two childcare charities are providing employers with a way of helping working parents when their childcare arrangements break down.

Daycare Trust and Nurseryworks Family Solutions have published a booklet showing how employers can purchase days at a back-up nursery to enable parents to carry on working while knowing that their children are receiving quality care. Employers estimate that they can save £2.00 for every £1.00 they spend on back-up care through reduced costs from absence and better productivity.

Stephen Burke, director of Daycare Trust, said: "For working parents, ensuring that their children are safe and well looked after can be a constant worry. And that means employers have a problem too. There will always be times when childcare arrangements break down and that will affect parents' ability to get to work or to concentrate when they get there. Back-up care is an easy, affordable and cost-effective solution to that problem."

A booklet outlining the scheme is available free from Daycare Trust, 21 St George's Road, London, SE1 6ES, tel: 020 7840 3350.

* Daycare Trust is one of the organisers of National Childcare Month, taking place in June, which will include a national conference and the release of a survey of childcare provision by top UK companies. The month is supported by the Department for Education and Skills and also involves Kids' Clubs Network, National Childminding Association, National Day Nurseries Association and Pre-School Learning Alliance.