You cannot bring your baby to work. That is understood. 

What is not as widely understood is that your company is responsible for making sure your child is cared for while you are there. And now that responsibility is no longer sitting quietly with HR. It has moved into the boardroom. 

As of 2025, companies are required to state in their Board’s Report whether they are complying with the Maternity Benefit Act, including the crèche requirement. This is not an internal note or a policy document that stays within the company. It is part of a report that investors, auditors, and regulators actually read. 

That changes things. 

When the crèche clause was introduced in 2017, most companies acknowledged it and moved on. It became something to address later. For many, later never really came. 

Now it has. 

The law itself is straightforward. Any establishment with 50 or more employees must provide access to a crèche. This can be within the office, nearby, or through a shared arrangement. Mothers are also allowed to visit the crèche up to four times during the workday. 

Sharing a list of nearby daycares or informal recommendations does not count as compliance. 

If you are between your late twenties and forties, this is relevant in a very real way. 

You may already be a parent or thinking about it. And most likely, your workplace has never clearly communicated anything about childcare support. That gap is not small. 

Childcare is one of the main reasons women step back from their careers after having a baby. Teams lose experienced people at a point when they contribute the most. For a long time, this has been treated as an individual challenge rather than something organisations need to solve. 

That is starting to change. 

In May 2025, the Supreme Court made it clear that maternity benefits, including access to crèche facilities, cannot be denied based on the number of children a woman has. Many organisations are still not fully aware of how broad these responsibilities are. 

There are companies that have taken a practical approach. Instead of trying to build and manage crèches themselves, they partner with professional childcare providers and ensure centres are available within or close to their campuses. 

It is a simple model, but it works. 

More importantly, it sends a clear message to employees. It shows that the company is thinking about their lives beyond work hours. That kind of clarity matters more than surface level benefits. 

If you are in HR, this is a good time to review your policies. Does your maternity policy clearly mention crèche access. Is it easy for employees to understand how to use it. If the Board’s Report is approaching and the answers are unclear, there is work to be done. 

If you are an employee, you can simply ask what your company’s crèche arrangement is. It is a reasonable question. The response you receive will tell you how seriously these policies are taken. 

For a long time, childcare has been handled quietly by parents, often at a personal cost. 

The law is now placing that responsibility where it belongs. 

And by bringing it into the Board’s Report, it is making sure companies cannot ignore it anymore.