Kids Allowed partners with carpool service to ease the nursery commute

The nursery group of five settings is heavily promoting the service to parents as it believes it will allow families more flexibility at work and home and alleviate the daily stress of commuting to and from nursery.

Kiddidrop.com works by connecting registered mums and dads from the same area so they can share the journey to and from their child’s nursery.

It has the backing of Modeshift, a national organisation for active and sustainable school travel, and from Lancashire, Stockport and Blackpool councils.

Registration to Kiddidrop.com is free. Standard registration allows parents to perform a basic search, view local parent connections and gives them access to Kiddidrop’s forum.

Parents can pay to upgrade their package, with prices starting at £9.99 for a Savvy package and reaching to £99.99 for a Tracker package.

Only the BeSmart package, priced at £49.99, and the Tracker package include enhanced DBS checks on parents.

Under the Savvy package, parents undergo an identity check undertaken by an independent third party.

When parents search for other mums and dads in their area on Kiddidrop’s site, they will be able to see on their profiles if they have had a security and background check.

All paid packages include use of Kiddidrop’s private messaging function.

Jennie Johnson, chief executive of Kids Unlimited, said that they will be recommending that parents opt for the membership which includes a DBS check to ensure the safety of children.

She added, 'The website is very transparent and makes it clear to parents what each package includes. There are benefits to the service if protocol is followed.'

Kiddidrop, which stresses on its website that it is an introductory service only, also recommends that parents only communicate with registered mums and dads they ‘feel comfortable with’, and that they arrange to meet beforehand.

Ms Johnson, said,  ‘We have many parents travelling to our settings from the same location.

‘Kiddidrop enables the number of journeys made by parents to be reduced by sharing the nursery run with other mothers and fathers. It can also be used to enable drop-offs to our after-school club for schools that we don’t currently offer a transfer service to.

‘At Kids Allowed we want to support our parents and children in any way possible. Parents lead busy lives, and by promoting Kiddidrop.com we are allowing families more flexibility at work and home, thereby alleviating stress.’

In May, Kids Allowed launched a Nanny @ Nursery service for parents who work atypical hours.