At Your Co-op Childcare Little Pioneers, we’re big on giving back and making a difference to our communities where it matters. We have 47 quality childcare nurseries that offer unrivalled development opportunities for babies, toddlers and pre-schoolers. We’re now working with businesses to help make finding the perfect fit childcare options easy for their employees.
The Little Pioneer way is to focus not just on academic and developmental achievements but on building the qualities that co-operative values best enable; building kind, conscientious, confident and happy children. We are experts in workplace partnerships, currently operating 8 workplace nurseries across the country and can't wait to open more.
We currently have 2 options available for workplace partnerships:
Option 1
Profit share agreement (where the employer owns the premises)
- Employer must ‘partially or fully fund’ the chosen nursery during the term of the contract
- Contribution to the design and build of the setting
- Low rent agreement
- A commitment to fund the salary of an additional qualified nursery practitioner for every five new full time equivalent (“FTE”) children of parents employed by the employer that join the nursery, capped at a maximum of five qualified nursery practitioners.
- A commitment for a representative of the employer to attend regular Management Committee meetings where key policies involving the childcare and education settings will be taken.
Option 2
Workplace partnership agreement
- Employer must ‘partially or fully fund’ the chosen nursery during the term of the contract;
- A significant financial contribution towards resources and or the refurbishment of the setting
- A commitment to fund the salary of an additional qualified nursery practitioner for every five new full time equivalent (“FTE”) children of parents employed by the employer that join the nursery, capped at a maximum of five qualified nursery practitioners.
- A commitment for a representative of the employer to attend regular Management Committee meetings where key policies involving the childcare and education settings will be taken.
Employee Benefits
Through employer provision, employees will benefit from:
- A full income tax and national insurance exemption, through salary sacrifice.
- Savings between 32% and 47% on their nursery fees.
- Secure knowledge that a childcare place is available.
Employer Benefits
The employer will benefit from:
- Significant employer national insurance savings (13.8% for all employees)
- The cost to the employer of accessing and supporting the nursery is usually offset by the employers' national insurance contributions savings
- If the employer owns the nursery building, the employer can claim tax relief for the day-to-day running costs of providing workplace nursery places, for example, rent, rates, heating and lighting, staff wages, food and play equipment with a short lifespan. These costs are all deductible when working out profits for corporation tax purposes.
- Many items used in a workplace nursery may qualify for capital allowances, including furniture, equipment used for heating, washing and cooking and more durable items of play equipment. An employer may also qualify for tax relief for the capital costs of providing premises for a nursery.
How does it work?
To attain "workplace nursery" status according to HMRC's requirements, the following criteria must be fulfilled:
- The financial commitment from the employer to Little Pioneers needs to be clear, documented, and ongoing.
- Year 1 financial contribution to fund educational resources in the childcare setting of £50,000, plus
- An ongoing commitment to fund the salaries of at least two qualified early years practitioners, plus
- A commitment to fund the salary of an additional qualified nursery practitioner for every five new full time equivalent (“FTE”) children of parents employed by the employer that join the nursery, capped at a maximum of five qualified nursery practitioners.
- A commitment for a representative of the employer to attend regular Management Committee meetings where key policies involving the childcare and education settings will be taken.
We are confident that the proposed solution outlined above meets the necessary requirements, enabling your employees to conveniently pay their nursery fees through salary sacrifice. This will lead to significant savings for the employer in terms of national insurance contributions.
Example:
The overall financial contribution from the employer in year 1 is likely to be [£98,000]. The financial contribution in following years is likely to be at least [£48,000] and capped at [£120,000] per annum.
Alternatively, we would be happy to operate a nursery on the grounds of an employer, or to continue exploring a rent agreement where the employer could potentially acquire the premises of an existing nursery.
Where the employer provides the premises of the nursery provision, a profit share arrangement could be negotiated.