New CEO wants greater rewards for nursery staff

Ros Marshall said, 'I don't think this country really appreciates how much of an important and difficult job it is.' She said she would be looking at how best to reward staff and recognise achievement, while the group surveys its 1,500 employees for ideas.

Ms Marshall previously worked at Nord Anglia as chief operating officer and was involved with the sale of the nurseries division. Prior to this she worked at Sodhexo as divisional director in the commercial education division.

She said that despite the recession, the demand for employer-supported childcare remained high, and the chain was in discussion with a number of corporate clients to establish workplace nursery partnerships. Around 40 per cent of Kidsunlimited's settings are workplace nurseries.

'There's still an interest among employers in retaining good quality staff,' said Ms Marshall.

Ms Marshall said that although some mothers were returning to work earlier after giving birth, others were taking advantage of the right to a year's maternity leave, so that the picture about whether the recession had forced some mothers back to work was 'patchy'.

She said that although it had been 'challenging' in the last year to 18 months of the business, there is 'a steady incline' in terms of places, with occupancy now 75 per cent across the board, while Kidsunlimited had put its fees up by less than the inflation rate last September.

She said the group was focusing on increasing the qualifications of its workforce, in line with the 2015 target for qualified staff.

'It will be interesting to see what the new Government commits to in terms of qualifications,' she added.