Two of the biggest providers of corporate childcare have come together in a deal which will revolutionise the market, it was announced today (JULY 31).

BUPA's corporate childcare arm has been bought out by Emergency Child and Home Care Limited.

The deal sees Emergency Child and Home Care given a new name – The Family Care Company – which reflects the complete services it now provides to employers who want to offer staff benefits in helping them balance their home and work life.

These include emergency child and elder care, out of school care, on-site crche and nursery management, childcare search and selection, and advice lines for companies and their employees.

Until the deal, The Family Care Company concentrated on providing back up and emergency childcare and elder care mainly through its revolutionary and award winning web based service, www.emergencychildcare.co.uk. Nursery places, nannies, childminders and carers for the elderly are sourced with as little as an hours notice. Corporate clients include Alfred McAlpine, the Met Police and leading law firm Olswang.

Now, with the acquisition of the BUPA corporate childcare business, The Family Care Company offers search and selection of childcare and advice lines on parenting and childcare for companies and their employees. Clients already using the service include Procter and Gamble, Shell and Pfizer.

Venetia Wickham, Operations Manager of the Family Care Company said: "This is an amazing deal for us. It means we have a brilliant team of support staff across the country steeped in the word of childcare and can now offer child and elder care helplines to all our clients. We are also excited to be able to offer our back up care service to BUPA's existing clients"

Sara Macdonald, head of BUPA Childcare, said "This is the natural home of BUPA Childcare. I have known the team at The Family Care Company for a number of years and I am glad that we have found a way to put the businesses together."