Childbase Partnership crowned Employee Owned Business of the Year

Childbase Partnership has been crowned Employee Owned Business of the Year at last night’s UK Employee Ownership Awards. The awards, delivered by the Employee Ownership Association (EOA), celebrate the success of the employee ownership sector, and in 2017 are sponsored by leading EOA member Baxendale.

Presented as part of the EOA Annual Conference, this award recognises the achievements of a well-established employee owned business that is demonstrating outstanding performance in the sector.

Already rated by the Sunday Times as one of the UK’s top 100 Best Companies to work for – Childbase Partnership runs 44 nurseries in the UK, and has a staff of 1625 also recently won Best Companies ‘Giving Something Back’ accolade and the ‘Making the World a Better Workplace for 10 years’ Award.

Deb Oxley, Chief Executive of the EOA said:

“Childbase has gone from strength to strength during its 16 years as an employee owned business and I wholeheartedly congratulate them.

“It was clear to see that the culture at Childbase is one of everyone having a voice. Every nursery has an elected employee ownership ambassador who is trained and empowered to represent staff on all major strategic decisions. As we strive to realise the government’s vision for greater employee representation, the story of how, through its structure, Childbase is continually empowering employees to help drive improvements in delivery and economic performance, has never been more significant.”

Many notable achievements have been made by the company in one of its best years to date, including introducing the ‘Living Wage’ five months ahead of Government’s deadline, and extending this to all staff. Employee satisfaction levels have increased to between 90-96% in all areas of their role, including leadership and being treated fairly. In the Annual Day Nursery Awards, parent ratings have put the business in the top 10, both regionally and nationally, with a 9.5/10 overall provision score.

Angela Brown of Childbase said:

“For us, employee ownership is all about sharing your knowledge. That’s what we always try to do and it’s at the heart of our business. It’s a really exciting time for us at Childbase as next year the belief is we’ll be 100% employee owned, so it’s great to mark this important step with this award.”

Ewan Hall, Director of Legal, Baxendale, said: “Congratulations to Employee Owned business of the Year Childbase Partnership, the win demonstrates its focus on using the skills of its staff to drive excellence in the business.

“Employee ownership is at the core of what we do so we’re proud to sponsor the UK Employee Ownership Awards, run by the EOA, for a second year and delighted to celebrate the stories of success. The awards hold a special significance as the successor to the Philip Baxendale Awards, which grew over 10 years from our internal celebration of success into a national celebration of the UK’s employee owned sector.”

A full list of the UK EO Awards is available to view here.