HONEY I FORGOT THE KIDS

If you've ever been stuck at work, project deadline looming, boss on your case...but you have to pick the kids up from school, there is a rescue remedy for stressed-out parents that you might just love.

emergencychildcare.co.uk is available across the country, and the best thing is that you can book it just an hour in advance, to cover for office mishaps or shift changes. Recent government figures show that more than 70 per cent of mums who are married or living with a partner now hold down a job as well – that's a whopping 500,000 more than the mid 1990s.

Parents who work have 'childcare breakdown problems' on average nine times a year and 89 per cent of parents who have had a problem had to take some time off work as a result. The system was the innovative idea of Tinies, the UK’s biggest provider of nursery staff and nannies.

Parents register so their details and information about any special needs their children have are ready for any bookings in advance, and they are welcome to visit local nurseries on the database beforehand.

The idea for Emergencychildcare.co.uk came from Ben Black, co-owner of Tinies, who realised the problems parents faced when he had his twins, a boy and a girl, five months ago. ‘After my wife Rachel ha the twins I realised that when she went back to work a full time nanny would still have times when she was on holiday or off sick.

‘I knew that many nurseries had spare places that they wanted to fill and that at Tinies we had a great resource of the best nannies in the country. I put it all together, realised the simplest way of booking anything quickly was on the internet and came up with this!