What is our Social Impact 2022?
So how does an organisation ‘make a social impact to create social change’? In our case, our social enterprise businesses (Childcare Vouchers, nursery recruitment and High Rise) invest 100% of their profits in funding the work of our charity, including the Family Benefits Advice Service and our research and lobbying work. With the cost of living crisis impacting families and childcare providers, the services of our charity have been needed over the past year now more than ever. We have continued our essential work providing advice and guidance to parents, childcare providers and employers, and advocating on their behalf.
Through our telephone helpline and outreach services last year (2021/22) we completed more than 4,500 personal benefits checks, delivered 128 face to face and online outreach sessions and directly helped more than 10,000 people. Parents who received a personal benefits check identified an average of almost £5,000 in financial support across the year – that’s £96 per week – and collectively saved more than £11.6 million. Over the last six years, that figure adds up to £66.1 million in additional financial support – money that has been put back into parents’ pockets, helping them to get into and stay in work and driving the economy – positive social change in action!
To read more about how our Social Enterprise supports our charity, download our Social Impact Report 2021-22.
How have we generated this Social Value?
The work of our charity is only possible thanks to those employers who have chosen to ‘buy social’ and use our Childcare Vouchers to support their staff in paying for the childcare they need, and in completing AccessNI checks and providing recruitment packages.
In addition to helping us invest in the work of our charity, parents and employers are both saving money through our Childcare Voucher scheme – a total of £6.7 million in 2021/22.
High Rise
In 2022, we also must thank the thousands of guests who have visited our newly reopened family adventure centre in Lisburn, High Rise. Every single visit helps us to continue the vital work of our charity. Feedback from those who have visited has been phenomenal, particularly around our brilliant staff team, and the warm welcome they provide to all guests, whatever their needs or abilities.
How much have we invested & what is the return?
Since 2008 we have reinvested £7.35 million into providing services for families, through our charity. We provide a free, impartial and confidential Family Benefits Advice Service, we carry out research addressing childcare and work-related issues and we lobby government to improve support for families.
Through our social enterprise activities and charity, our impact in 2021/22 has included:
- Identifying £11.6 million in additional financial support for families – meaning for every £1 we invested in our charity, we identified a direct saving for parents of almost £47
- Over 10,000 parents using our Childcare Vouchers, collectively saving those parents £4.6 million in childcare costs
- Over 1,500 employers offering our Childcare Voucher scheme to their staff, collectively saving those employers £2.1 million in National Insurance Contributions
- Supporting almost 200 childcare providers with AccessNI and recruitment services
- Lobbying for support for parents and the childcare sector as costs in the face of rising costs for families and childcare providers
- Advising MLAs and policy-makers on childcare issues, including work to inform the development of a much-needed and long-overdue new Childcare Strategy for Northern Ireland.
Marie Marin, Chief Executive of Employers For Childcare says thank you to all those employers who have chosen to 'buy social' and use our Childcare Vouchers, including those who have switched to us from another provider. We are the only Social Enterprise in the UK providing this service on behalf of employers and we work with organisations of all sizes and all sectors across the UK.