Family Friendly scheme

Barclays, Gatwick, BT, easyJet, the Department for Education, and Poole Family Information Service sign-up to scheme to make the UK more family friendly

28^th June 2011: Today, leading organisations announce they are joining a new Family Friendly scheme launched by the Family and Parenting Institute. At a time when families are facing increased pressures and are calling to have their needs better met, leading public sector organisations and some of the biggest names in business are pledging to put families at the heart of their services.

Barclays, Gatwick, BT, easyJet, the Department for Education, and Poole Family Information Service are already pioneering family friendly approaches for staff and customers and are encouraging others to join the scheme which asks organisations to commit to making the UK a more family friendly place. Family members will then be encouraged to feedback to companies on the Family Friendly website, helping them to constantly improve the services they are delivering.

By bringing local and national organisations together with families, the Family Friendly scheme will help them better understand their customers and meet their expectations. Supporting families and transforming the quality of the services they receive, the scheme seeks to improve family life for everyone.

Speaking at the launch of the Family Friendly scheme, Katherine Rake, Chief Executive of the Family and Parenting Institute, said:

“We know that only 6% of families think the UK is family friendly. Many feel public services are poor and businesses are not meeting their needs. Now, more than ever, it is important that we as a society provide locations, experiences, goods and services that families can enjoy together.

“That’s why the Family Friendly scheme is bringing together a unique and powerful coalition of businesses, public bodies and families to work together. These businesses and public bodies will be pledging to make life better for their customers over the next year and the website will give families a forum to let them know how they are doing.”

Supporting the launch Guy Bailey, Principal Policy Adviser: Employment and Health & Safety at the CBI said:

“Flexible, family-friendly working practices can bring significant benefits to business – benefiting the bottom line and employee engagement – as well as helping employees to balance work and other commitments.”