Social Impact Report 2023/24

Our Social Impact Report highlights what we do as an organisation and the positive impact that our work has on parents, children, the economy and society as a whole. We are the only Social Enterprise Childcare Voucher company in the UK – reinvesting 100% of the profit we make back into our Social Enterprise and into our charitable work, which includes our Family Benefits Advice Service, research and campaigning.

It’s only through employers, individuals and others choosing to ‘buy social’ that we are able to continue making this investment and carry on this important work, on behalf of parents, employers and childcare providers. So thank you to the employers who have chosen to support their employees with their childcare costs by using our Childcare Voucher scheme. Thanks also to everyone who has visited High Rise family adventure centre this year. Every single soft play visitor, birthday party guest, gift voucher purchase and corporate group helps our charity to continue to do its vital work.

Since 2008, when our Family Benefits Advice Service started its work, we have identified over £100 million in financial support for families across the UK. It’s a huge amount, and has only been possible as a result of our social enterprise business activities, enabling us to invest £7.4 million in our charity during this time.

Some of the highlights from 2023/24:

• We identified collective financial support of £12.7 million for those supported by our Family Benefits Advice Service.
• We directly helped over 13,700 people and our team provided more than 4,000 calculations for parents.
• Our Childcare Voucher scheme delivered savings of £3.8 million for working parents and employers across the UK.
• Clients who received a personalised benefits check from our Family Benefits Advice Service identified an average of almost £1,500 in financial support they didn’t know they were entitled to.
• We delivered 243 free online and face-to-face outreach sessions to parents, employers and childcare providers – helping to ensure parents are claiming all the financial support they are entitled to with their childcare costs.
• We ensured childcare was at the top of the political agenda when the Northern Ireland Executive returned in early 2024and that it was identified as a key priority in the draft Programme for Government
• We continued to advise MLAs and policy-makers in childcare issues, including providing the Secretariat for the All Party Group on Early Education and Childcare at Stormont.
• We maintained our focus on highlighting the value of our childcare sector to parents, the economy and society as a whole, in the media and the wider policy arena.

Download our Social Impact Report 2023-24 here or you can read our press release to celebrate Social Enterprise Day 2024 here.