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Emergency childcare and eldercare as an employee benefit is on the increase

A quarter of blue-chip employers plan to offer back-up care such as emergency childcare or eldercare by 2010.

According to My Family Care, 9% of employers currently offer this type of employee benefit but the number is set to rise as employers look to support work-life balance (63%), retain talent (61%) and encourage staff to return to work (50%).

HR professionals also cited employee stress reduction as a major factor in introducing such benefits (41%).

The survey reveals 90% of employers offer some form of flexible working at present and less than 10% said there were fewer opportunities for career progression in their organisation for staff that work flexibly.

Ben Black, director of My Family Care, said: "Back-up care has been the fastest growing employee benefit in the US for a number of years and now we are seeing rapidly increasing levels of interest among UK employers.

"As companies review their benefits programmes and particularly in the current economic climate, they are looking to provide employee benefits that make a tangible difference to both employee and company. Back-up care services make it possible for companies to retain talent and reduce employee stress, which in turn improves productivity."

Take-up of flexible working options is low, however, with 33% of employers reporting less than 10% of their staff work flexibly.

HR magazine has launched its Make Care Less Taxing campaign.

A single care voucher would work like the existing childcare voucher scheme, where employers provide vouchers as a benefit, and eligible working parents with children under 16 do not have to pay tax or national insurance contributions on the first £55 per week, or £243 per month.

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