Workplace Nurseries & Partnerships
Employer-sponsored childcare delivered via our UK Network
Make high-quality childcare easier to access, and more sustainable with salary sacrifice savings.
Why it matters
For parents of young children, the cost and availability of childcare can affect the hours they work, whether returning to work feels financially worthwhile and whether they stay with their employer.
76%
Of working parents consider their childcare arrangements before accepting a new role.
32%
The average saving employees can make on the cost of care through salary sacrifice.
CHILDCARE OPTIONS
Two ways to make childcare easier to access and afford.
Dedicated childcare for your workforce
A Bright Horizons nursery in or near your workplace, created primarily or exclusively for your people. It gives working parents easier access to high-quality early years care, with drop-off and pick-up built around the working day.
How it works
- We build, staff and operate the nursery.
- You sponsor the provision of places.
- Parents access places through salary sacrifice.
- The arrangement is designed to meet HMRC Workplace Nursery qualifying criteria.
Best for larger employers with enough people in one location to support dedicated provision, typically 50 or more employees at a single site
The same financial benefit, without building a nursery
Employees access places at Bright Horizons nurseries selected around where they live or work. They benefit from high-quality childcare and salary sacrifice savings without the organisation needing the space, scale or capital investment for its own nursery.
How it works
- You adopt places at one or more Bright Horizons nurseries.
- Locations are selected around employee demand and office hubs.
- Parents access places through salary sacrifice.
- We manage compliance, payroll integration and reporting.
Best for distributed teams, multi-site employers, hybrid workforces or organisations with smaller employee populations in each location.
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.
THE DIFFERENCE IT MAKES
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
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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