CEY0962

Written evidence submitted by Cronkshaw Fold Farm ltd

Our business has had several employees who have had children under school age.

As a small business start up it is not within our financial means to fund childcare costs to allow staff to be free to come to work. Our staff with youngsters have told us they WANT to work and do a good job when they're here. They also want to spend time with their young children and not be far away from them for long periods of the day. We have subsequently tried out several ideas to accommodate their desire to work and their desires and needs to be with and look after their children at the same time.

Bring your child to work.

For many of the types of work we do here, having a child with you in a sling or playing in a safe, nearby, in eyesight area works well. Naturally this often slows down the speed employees can work, but it means they can come to work AND enjoy being with their child, too. We have offered payment for work completed instead of pay by the hour to account for the often slower pace of work. For tasks where there is no urgent time deadline, this has worked well for employees, allowing them to earn money, be with their children and keep in the loop with what's going on in the workplace.

Bring your child and their carer to work

For breastfeeding mothers, we’ve offered a living room / kitchen type space to carers of employees children and the child - for example a grandma looking after their baby grandchild on site at work, while the baby’s mother is working. For the types of work that allow for it, this has meant breastfeeding staff can work with their baby nearby, popping back to breastfeed/ have a cuddle with baby as and when they want/need to. We already have a kitchen/ living room type area, so this has not cost us much to implement. For parents who want to work and want to see their child regularly through the day, this has been a much appreciated set up.

How government could help: Some suggestions.

-          Legislation that makes it easier for businesses to pay by work done instead of by the hour.

-          Share the above ideas with other businesses so they can try them out.

-          Encourage businesses and job sites like indeed.com to let potential employees know they can bring their little one to work with them/ can pop home around their childcare needs/  can be paid for work done instead of by the hour.

Ideas from our current and former staff of what would make it easier to work and have children

-          It is not easy to understand from the info available on gov.uk what support is available to business owners who are pregnant/ new parents etc. Having a ‘quiz’ type form where you can input your work status (i.e unemployed not looking for work/ unemployed looking for work/ employed/ self employed/ the proprietor of a ltd company etc) then it tells you what support if any is available and how to access it.

January 2023