The arrival of a child should be a joyful experience, but it’s also emotionally and physically demanding. While many businesses only offer statutory maternity/paternity packages and parental leave, increasingly firms are recognising the benefits of offering enhanced childcare employee benefits, enabling mums and dads to better manage their work-life balance and enhancing their wellbeing.The Government has launched a review of parental leave and pay to look at how it can be modernised to support families and help grow the economy. In the meantime, here is our top 10 list of UK companies that offer childcare benefits, helping to support staff as they balance their professional lives with parenthood.1. Aviva“If you see kids in your future, or you already have an empty fridge and an overflowing laundry basket, our parental leave policies may be of interest,” says Aviva. The insurance firm offers a generous package—employees can take up to 52 weeks, irrespective of how long they’ve been working for the business. Aviva has also been offering equal paid and unpaid leave to parents of all gender identities and sexual orientations since 2017, and the firm encourages flexible working when new parents return to work.2. BarclaysBarclays is another company that offers childcare benefits for its working parents, with 26 weeks of maternity leave on full pay, followed by 13 weeks on statutory pay. It also offers up to 50 weeks of shared parental leave. In addition, parents can take up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave before a child’s 18th birthday.Barclays says: “We offer extensive support for families, parents and carers in line with local practices and requirements, to ensure that our colleagues are able to balance their professional and personal lives.”The company has received glowing reviews on the topic from employees, including mentions of its childcare vouchers, flexible and remote working options, as well as its maternity/paternity leave, all helping parents to better manage their work-life schedules.3. CiscoThe tech giant Cisco has introduced employer childcare benefits. Cisco Bedfont Lakes, its UK headquarters, has an on-site nursery, managed by Bright Horizons, for children aged between 3 months and 5 years.Employees that send their children to the nursery are reported to pay a “significantly reduced” cost for the childcare service, thanks to the company’s salary sacrifice scheme.In addition, staff are also offered discounted back-up care, which can be spent on either the on-site nursery or any other nursery/childcare service. Employees are entitled to up to 10 days of back-up care a year.Cisco also offers parental leave based on an employee’s caregiving role (primary or support) rather than their gender.4. EtsyeCommerce website Etsy offers a number of childcare employee benefits, including a flexible work model that enables parents to fit their work around family schedules.Employees are entitled to subsidised back-up childcare credits, which they can spend with a contracted provider, or on their own private care plan. In addition, the company offers “gender blind” parental leave. All Etsy employees, regardless of gender, are entitled to 26 weeks of leave, fully paid, to be used in the first two years after their baby is born (or adopted).Etsy also allows new parents to trade in up to 14 weeks of their parental leave time for a cash benefit, which can be used to pay for childcare to support their transition back to work.5. First DirectA division of HSBC UK, First Direct is another UK company with on-site childcare. The digital-only bank has workplace nurseries at its Leeds and Hamilton sites for children aged from 3 months up until school age. The service is subsidised through salary sacrifice, resulting in a significant reduction in cost.The First Direct nurseries are open to everyone employed at either of these two locations, with parents able to book childcare slots in hours, rather than a half-day, so they only pay for the time they use.6. Goldman SachsGoldman Sachs, the bank and financial services company, has offered an on-site crèche since 2003.Its London HQ is full of family-friendly features, including a nursery for children aged between 3 months to 12 years, primarily built as a back-up care option for when other childcare arrangements have fallen through.Members of the Goldman Sachs UK team are offered 20 days of emergency childcare each year.Every office also provides advice and counselling services, and expectant parent resources. Adoption, surrogacy, egg donation, and egg retrieval stipends are also available.7. Morgan StanleyFollowing Goldman Sachs’ lead, global investment bank Morgan Stanley established nurseries close to its sites in London and Glasgow to support working parents.Parents are able to visit their child during the day to take them out for a walk or spend time with them. The nurseries also have facilities such as indoor playgrounds and climbing frames, and toddler-sized cookery stations. Paid for through a salary-sacrifice scheme, the family–friendly benefit is part of a wider wellness strategy that includes helping to support parents when they return to work after having a child.8. NextThe fashion and homeware retailer Next is another UK company with onsite childcare. The Next Steps Nursery, located adjacent to its head office in Enderby, Leicester, has been rated Outstanding by Ofsted.Next also offers childcare vouchers, enabling staff to save some of their salary to go towards the cost of nursery via its salary sacrifice scheme.Next takes its employer childcare responsibilities seriously, providing guidance and support for employees planning to take maternity, paternity or adoption leave, including offering virtual group classes and workshops.9. ToyotaAutomotive manufacturer Toyota offers excellent childcare employee benefits in its Derbyshire plant, with an on-site nursery charging competitive daily rates, all paid via a salary sacrifice scheme.This nursery is available to all staff with children, up to a maximum age of five. The nursery also accommodates employees’ shift patterns, open during the same hours of a production day shift so workers can drop their children off before starting work.10. VodafoneClaiming to have “one of the best maternity policies in the UK”, the British telecommunications company Vodafone has focused its efforts on supporting its employees throughout the life-altering experience of becoming a parent—offering 16 weeks of leave, fully paid and regardless of gender.Vodafone’s 80/20 policy allows new parents to return to work for 80% of their hours, at 100% of their pay, benefits and holiday, for the first six months following family-related leave. What childcare is offered by companies?There are many different types of employee benefits insurance, and employee benefits have evolved over the years, but only a select number of companies offer childcare and this is often much larger organisations—especially in the US.Benefits that can be offered in terms of childcare include:Childcare vouchersCreche facilitiesNannies and babysittersDaycare or nurseries on-siteTime off for staff without impacting annual leaveShould companies offer childcare employee benefits?Yes, there is a strong business case for offering childcare support to your staff. Simply because someone has children should not prevent them from achieving their goals or affect their employability.Good quality staff can be hard and expensive to replace—and having creche facilities or nannies can be a small expense relative to the potential benefits of keeping your employees happy and productive.What other things can companies do to help parents and those looking for a work-life balance?At a basic level, offering childcare vouchers is a very low-cost and effective way to assist parents—and these can be subsidised by the government to pay for things like food, clothes, activities and more.Another thing that companies can do is allow days off for parents to tend to their children if they are sick, without compromising their annual leave.Allowing parents to start work later and finish earlier so they can drop off at and pick up from school is also very popular, as is the ability to work remotely. And Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) can offer access to mental health experts, counselling services and financial advice.