Abbey has launched an emergency childcare, out-of-school care and eldercare scheme to employees as part of a new work-life balance initiative.

This will make Abbey the first retail bank in the UK to offer such a service.

The partnership with My Family Care will provide emergency childcare, out-of-school and emergency homecare for children and immediate access to accredited carers for unexpected periods of care while employees are at work.

Annette Lawson, policy and diversity consultants at Abbey, said: "Breakdown in care is one of the most stressful things for an employee to deal with. From our employee feedback, we pinpointed this as one area in which we could provide a service for the carers which will help them in their day-to-day lives."