News

3m upgrade for Busy Bees nursery voucher service

Bees Bees, the UK's largest nursery voucher company, is investing 3m in technology to improve its service to childcare providers, parents and employers.

A new record-keeping system is to go live in the autumn.

The service will include improved online access for childcare providers and a customer call-centre service tailored towards answering providers' queries.

Simon Moore, who took over as Busy Bees managing director in February, said one of the aims was to make it easier for providers to redeem vouchers and ensure they receive payments on time.

'We want to make sure we're easier to do business with for carers, employers and parents,' he said.

Mr Moore said the new system would enable parents and carers 'to identify which child the voucher is being used for. We don't want nursery managers to spend time wondering how to reconcile their accounts.'

Providers will also be able to register online to make it easier for them to redeem vouchers.

To find out what improvements nurseries wanted, Busy Bees carried out an online survey and received around 250 responses, and also held focus groups with providers in Litchfield, where the company has its headquarters, and Bristol, where parent company Computershare is based.

Mr Moore said that Busy Bees recognised that childcarers need good customer service to the same extent as parents.

More than 40,000 childcare providers, including nurseries and out-of-school clubs, take Busy Bees vouchers, which are used by 110,000 parents in the UK. The voucher company employs around 250 staff.

Busy Bees vouchers are offered by more than 14,000 employers in the UK, from small businesses to large corporations. Public sector clients include NHS trusts, police forces and councils.

Share registration company Computershare bought Busy Bees' vouchers business last year from ABC Learning Centres, which remains the parent company of Busy Bees nursery group (21 August 2008).