With workplace nurseries still far from commonplace, the Land Registry is leading the way in providing employer-supported childcare with the best ratio of nursery places to staff in the Civil Service. This equates to one nursery place for around 25 staff and means that employees at all of its 25 offices in England and Wales have access to some form of subsidised provision either in on-site nurseries, 'bought-in places' or holiday playschemes.
The Land Registry employs 9,000 people with a quarter of its staff working part-time and women accounting for about two-thirds of the workforce.
As John Nicholson, the Land Registry's head of diversity and equal opportunities, explains, offering childcare demonstrates its commitment to work-life balance and family-friendly policies. These include flexi-time, part-time working and career breaks. 'We need to look at being an employer of choice,' he says.
With the largest property database in Europe, the Land Registry invests a lot in training its staff. Mr Nicholson says, 'Providing subsidised childcare supports our business in retaining staff.' He says holiday playscheme places have proved their worth in reducing the number of staff applying for unpaid leave during school holidays.
The Land Registry subsidises all childcare provision by one third, offering 370 on-site and bought-in nursery places and 430 playscheme places. Around 1,000 children have access to some form of childcare provision.
Current Government regulations mean that employees with children at on-site workplace nurseries are able to qualify for tax-free childcare. However, in cases where the employer chooses to buy-in places at a local nursery, strict criteria must be met for the tax break to apply. The employer must either provide the premises or be involved in financing and managing the provision.
Where the demand for on-site care is not high enough, the Land Registry offers 'bought-in nursery schemes', usually contracting with a local provider.
In the case of off-site places, Mr Nicholson says parents would not be eligible for the tax break, so the Land Registry picks up the bill. This means that all of its employees qualify for the same benefits whether the nursery places on offer are on-site or bought-in.
There are two nursery chains running the on-site provision - Childcare Enterprise and Bright Horizons Family Solutions. Childcare Enterprise runs the 50-place Robin's Wood Nursery for the two Nottingham-based offices and a 40-place playscheme. It also runs Little Rascals, a 52-place nursery for the Durham office.
The Land Registry's seventh on-site setting opened in March this year at Hull District Land Registry and is managed by Bright Horizons Family Solutions.
The BHFS' Bright and Earley Nursery caters for the 330 employees based in Hull, offering 40-places for children aged 12 weeks to four-and-a-half and a 40-place playscheme. The chain also runs the Land Registry's on-site nurseries at Telford, Weymouth and Coventry.
In addition, BHFS is set to run the on-site facility at the Land Registry's new offices in Plymouth. The 40-place nursery and holiday playscheme opens in January 2005.
Susan Hay, chairman of BHFS (Europe), says the provision of childcare facilities is much more straightforward if you're re-developing or re-locating.
For the Land Registry, offering on-site provision is very much dependent on the results of a demand survey carried out at each office and practical concerns such as viability in terms of building regulations. Where offices are new builds, like Plymouth for example, it is obviously much easier to incorporate childcare facilities at the planning stage.
Ms Hay adds that the issue of childcare in the workplace is increasingly raised by employees. She has noticed growing interest from the private sector.
'It's come of age in the sense that childcare has to be considered now rather than being ignored,' she says. 'People are asking, "What will you as an employer do for me?" The issue of childcare has come up from the floor as it were, as distinct from being simply a benefit.'