Sarah-Jane Butler is the founder of Parental Choice (www.parentalchoice.co.uk), a one stop advice and childcare search service for professionals looking for the right childcare to fit their careers. In 2014, she was recognised by Brummell Magazine as one of the City's Top Inspirational Entrepreneurs, whilst Parental Choice was short-listed for the SME Employer of the Year Award by WorkingMums. A graduate of Bristol University, where she studied French and German, Sarah-Jane did her legal training at the College of Law in Guildford and then London. She began her career in financial law as a trainee and then junior associate within Linklaters' Equity and Debt Market Department. In 2004 she became an associate at Freshfields, a role which included a secondment to the New York office and to the Real Estate Banking Group at Goldman Sachs. From 2007 until 2011 Sarah-Jane was a senior associate at Berwin Leighton Paisner. It was whilst she was on maternity leave with her first child that Sarah-Jane started researching into childcare. As she explains, it didn't take long to recognise she was facing an uphill task: “There were nanny agencies telling me about nannies, local authorities offering contact details for childminders and various websites giving information about different nurseries, but what I really wanted was a central resource.” Sarah-Jane went back to work but realised that the time may have come to consider a change in career. “One evening my father asked what ever happened to my idea for a one-stop childcare shop. I thought, why not? I had never dreamed of starting my own business but it was something that seemed fundamental to me and to all parents out there facing the same issues as me.” She began sowing the seeds for what would become Parental Choice while she was pregnant with her second child and still working. A friend helped her to create the website, whilst contacts who were childcare and education experts assisted with the copywriting. At the same time as undertaking a huge programme of research, Sarah-Jane started retraining as an employment lawyer. Parental Choice was formed in June 2011 and was launched three months later. The first client came on board in August 2011 and her first employee, a friend who also happened to be an HR expert, joined as a consultant in September 2012 as the business was getting busier and busier. Today Parental Choice has grown to the point where it now has eight employees, with three additional members of staff due to join by the end of the year. As the company began to take shape so Sarah-Jane realised that helping other parents avoid the stress and hassle she had encountered was only part of what could be achieved. Already a firm believer that many companies were losing valuable talent and experience through parents leaving work due to lack of childcare and difficulties combining a career and family, she began to see what a valuable resource Parental Choice could be to employers too. Aside from running the business, Sarah-Jane is also a Changemaker supporting Working Families and is a member of the Regulation Matters campaign working towards the regulation of domestic care in the home. She has been involved with Government consultations on childminder agencies as well as speaking publicly at Government policy briefings on topics such as “Bridging the Gender Equality Gap - The Future Role of Women” and the “Back to Work for Women” programme. She has attended several HR summits in her role as director of Parental Choice, including speaking at the Institute of Director's “Women in Business” conference in 2014. Sarah-Jane also presents at law firms, banks and corporates on family friendly benefits, childcare options and businesses' family rights and obligations at work including flexible working, talent retention and shared parental leave reforms. www.parentalchoice.co.uk Sarah-Jane Butler is available for interview or comment on any matters relating to childcare issues in the UK For further information, please contact: Ruthe or Amber @ Jori White Public Relations Ltd Email: ruthe@joriwhitepr.co.uk/amber@joriwhitepr.co.uk or Tel: 020 7734 7001
