Most parent-friendly charities revealed by Guardian
Howard Lake | 30 July 2007 | News
Save the Children UK is the most parent-friendly charity in the UK to work for, according to a new survey by the Guardian which covers a range of sectors individually.
Also deemed ‘above average’ are the NSPCC, Oxfam, RSPB, Wellcome Trust, National Trust, Unicef UK and Leonard Cheshire.
Save the Children hits the top spot because it offers better SMP arrangements than the legal requirements plus childcare vouchers and flexible working.
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However, the Guardian described the charity sector as surprisingly mediocre at supporting its working parents given its underpinning of social values. The paper says that even at the better performing charities maternity pay was nothing special, or had strings attached.
Cancer Research UK came into the ‘Poor in sector’ category apparently because of its ‘early return option’ which gives mothers the option of returning to work 17 weeks after starting maternity leave and having 17 weeks at full pay, rather than 13 weeks’ at full pay and 26 weeks on statutory maternity pay.
Other charities that don’t make the grade for the Guardian are British Heart Foundation and RNLI. An ‘out of the running’ category lists Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care and RSPCA.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.