Glasgow City Council has implemented a Childcare Voucher scheme to help its employees with children save on the cost of their childcare.

The Authority, which is the largest in Scotland, launched its Busy Bees Childcare Voucher scheme in April 2007 following a thorough tendering process.

Glasgow, with a population of around 600,000, is Scotland's largest city and is the commercial capital of Scotland. It is the UK's largest retail centre after London. Glasgow City Council employs a 32,000-strong workforce.

The introduction of Childcare Vouchers complements the Council’s family friendly policies and ethos of making employment accessible to all. It is also seen as a method to raise morale and aid retention of staff after having children.

Carol Dick, Senior HR Officer at Glasgow City Council, said: “We chose Busy Bees as our preferred supplier of Childcare Vouchers because they were able to demonstrate that they have the capacity to deal with a large organisation like our Council.

“We have been very pleased with the Service that we have received from Busy Bees and they’ve worked hard to meet all our requirements, including tailoring reports. Ongoing support has been very good and any queries have been dealt with swiftly and professionally.

“The scheme has proved very popular amongst our employees and, considering the scale of the project, we did not encounter the initial teething problems that we expected and this is attributed to the high level of support that we received from Busy Bees.”

Busy Bees Childcare Vouchers can help save working parents up to £1,196 a year (subject to individual circumstances) on the cost of their childcare. Parents exchange up to £243 worth of their salary each month for the same amount of Childcare Vouchers and can spend them on any form of registered or approved childcare, including nurseries, nannies, childminders, au pairs, out of school clubs and holiday schemes.

To find out how your organisation can benefit from implementing a Childcare Voucher scheme, call 08000 431 861.