Employee-Sponsored Childcare
Nursery fees rise. Mothers leave. Repeat.
A full-time nursery place now costs £21,000 a year in London, £15,000 outside it. After tax, that's more than most of your mid-career mothers earn in a quarter.
What is Employee-Sponsored Childcare?
For most UK employers, nursery costs are now the single largest reason mid-career parents — and mothers in particular — leave or never come back. Salary sacrifice schemes were designed for a different economy. Direct, structural intervention is the only thing that moves the numbers at scale now. Employer-Sponsored Childcare gives you three ways to do it — independently, or in combination.
Adoption & utilisation
87%
employee utilisation rate (Citi)
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
3 min
average booking time via the app
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
94%
of bookings fulfilled same-day
Source: MFI 2026, n=3,200
How it works
01
Sees what's available where they live
One tap from the company app or intranet. No new account, no HR ticket, no password to remember..
02
Books a tour or place directly
Booking and enrolment happen with the nursery directly.
03
Pays the subsidised rate at source
Your employer contribution is applied at billing.
04
Stay with the same nursery through every age group
Continuity from baby room through pre-school, in a setting they already trust.
Features
Nursery Partnerships
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Workplace Nurseries
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Subsidised Places
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Frequently Asked Questions
Your Bright Horizons Back-Up Care benefit offers a safety net of care options should you experience a breakdown in your usual arrangements.
As well as back-up childcare options, you may also have adult/elder back-up care, please check your programme on your benefit platform or speak to your HR consultant to check what’s available.
Care options include:
Back-Up Childcare
- Nursery care for children up to 5 years.
- Holiday clubs/camps during the school holidays.
- In-home care with a nanny
- Local, trusted childminders.
Back-Up Adult & Eldercare (if offered by employer)
- In-home care with an adult care worker for adult dependants aged 18 years or over.
- Personal support for yourself, or for your partner – for example if either of you are getting over an operation or accident.
- Respite care to give you a break and offer support with any adult caring responsibilities.
A: All permanent UK employees are eligible to use this programme.
A: Your children, including adopted, foster and stepchildren (up to 17 years), and if your programme includes adult and eldercare, it will also cover any adult (over 18 years) for whom you have caring responsibilities, including adult children, spouses, parents, grandparents, in-laws, and yourself.
A: Your programme specific details can be found on your benefit platform once you register for the benefit.
There is a four-hour minimum for all types of care.
A: Yes. The Back-Up Care programme is designed to help you should you experience a dependent care emergency. The care consultant will begin sourcing care for you as soon as your request is received, even if this is during the night, but will typically not be able to confirm the arrangements until the childcare centres or in-home care agencies open for business, usually at 7.30am the next day.
A: This is dependent on your specific program, please check on your benefit platform for details.
A: If an employee contribution is required, you will pay this at the time of booking by means of either a credit or a debit card. No deduction will be made until after the care has taken place. depending on the type of care that has been booked. More information is detailed below in relation to this.
A: Yes, however we may need to seek approval from your employer.
A: Yes, you can use the back-up care benefit for work purposes. This can be particularly useful for Keeping in Touch (KIT) days.
How a similar organisation solved this
Citi
Financial Services / 12,000 employees ● 5 min read
A FTSE 100 bank stopped losing returners. The lever was childcare, not policy.
Three years in, attrition among new parents is down 41% and engagement scores are up across the board. Here's what changed — and what didn't.
224% ROI in year one
Marsh
Legal / 800 employees ● 5 min read
“We were haemorrhaging mid-level associates. Back-up care was the turning point."
A Magic Circle firm explains why same-day cover did what flexible working policies couldn't — and how they made the business case in a single quarter.
224% ROI in year one
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