Childbase employee-ownership report gets ministerial backing
Vesela Gladicheva
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Nursery group Childbase Partnership has received support from government ministers for its call for more employee ownership in UK businesses.
The early years provider, which is an employee-owned company, last week launched a report at the House of Commons entitled ‘All of Our Business: Why Britain needs more private sector employee ownership’.
Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, who had already given his support for Childbase’s call for action, was joined by Employment Minster Norman Lamb and other leading politicians in backing it.
The Coalition government announced its public sector mutuals programme in 2010, giving public sector workers a new right to form employee-owned co-operatives.
Mr Lamb described the economic case for employee ownership as overwhelming and urged everyone to contribute their ideas to a government review due in July.
Childbase claims that, as well as being more sustainable and accountable, co-owned businesses reduce absenteeism and increase productivity.
Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Childbase Partnership, said, ‘The time for talking has long passed; we need action now if the government wants to reap the benefits of increased employee engagement.
‘Many of the most severe problems afflicting our economy today stem from failures of private sector ownership.’
He called for legislation to provide a single route to employee-ownership, improved tax treatment for employee shareholders and better access to bank lending for co-owned firms.
Childbase, which has 1,304 employees, declared its commitment to total employee ownership in 2001. This now stands at 64 per cent.
As shareholders, employees can formally hold the board to account annually and help shape the business at a strategic level.
Representatives from all the 41 Childbase day nurseries and a school were at the report launch. Margaret Griffin, of Devonshire Day Nursery in Chiswick, London, said, ‘I am… impressed by the cross-party support for this research. I hope it is the start of positive action.’
Miranda Oliver, of Mulberry Day Nursery in Maidenhead, Berkshire, said, ‘It is times like this when you realise Childbase has a very different approach. Working together and listening to each other makes sense so it is difficult to understand why people think this is a new idea.’
Childbase, which won the EducationInvestor ‘Nursery Group of the Year’ 2011 award, has 19 outstanding nurseries and 18 rated good. Last month, the group took 13th place in the Sunday Times’ 100 best companies to work for listings.
