Employer of Choice?

Opportunity Links has developed a unique, user-friendly web-based tool that helps employers to give working parents the information they need to make informed financial choices about employer-supported childcare.

The Estimator helps not only employees, but benefits employers by potentially saving on National Insurance contributions, supporting their already pressured HR function, and enhancing their company image as a family-friendly employer ñ ultimately saving both time and money.

The Opportunity Links Estimator estimates which option is the most financially beneficial for each individual, depending on elements of their working status including salary and hours worked and current childcare circumstances. It helps navigate the complex tax and National Insurance system, and the potentially confusing elements of Working Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Childcare Vouchers and other tax breaks.

Some parents may not be aware that when sacrificing an element of their National Insurance and tax to pay for childcare, there may be a negative impact on their current entitlements to tax credits. It may also affect their work-related benefits in the future, for example, maternity pay, sick pay and occupational or state pensions.

53% of women with children aged under five work full time*, with the figure rising to two-thirds of parents working part time. Forward thinking businesses of all sizes know that it makes business sense to look at the ways in which they can support working parents, to retain and recruit the best people and position themselves as employers of choice.

The Estimator is moderately priced and the yearly fee will vary depending on the size of the business, so both large and small organisations will benefit. The Estimator can be integrated locally to support an organisationís HR function, saving valuable human resource time and reducing the requirement for complicated calculations.

The Estimator is particularly useful for small businesses that do not have an in-house HR function.

Annette Walker, Managing Director, Opportunity Links says, ëSupporting working parents is not just a ënice thing to doí; it is also an important business tool that can help organisations with people issues, including retention and recruitment, attracting women into the workplace and increasing productivity.

ëWe know that childcare issues are particularly stressful for working parents and the financial complexities of employer-supported childcare can add to that stress. The Estimator is a cost-effective and user-friendly tool that can help employers make at least one aspect of childcare simpler for their employees.í

Leila Ong, Employment Taxes at Chartered Tax Advisers Peters Elworthy & Moore says, ìThe Estimator works very well and I think it is an excellent resource. It has already been a useful tool for me in getting to grips with the different permutations of the childcare voucher scheme in relation to tax credits.î

The Estimator is available now. For further information and to order it for your business please go to www.opp-links.org.uk

*ONS Labour Market Survey, 2004