South West-based family business Mama Bear’s Day Nursery & Pre-School group has announced a 3% pay increase for its staff in response to the ongoing cost of living crisis.

The nursery group, which operates settings across Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Somerset and Devon, announced the pay award on top of a 6.8% increase given in April to the majority of staff. This means most employees have received a nearly 10% increase since the beginning of the year.

Mama Bear’s owner and managing director Tony Driffield, said: “We are pleased to be offering our staff this small but much-deserved award. Times are really tough for many at the moment so we’re hoping that this gesture will help to ease some of the fears our staff have over the rising cost of living.

“We know that things are tight and so we wanted to do what we could to help our workforce. We pride ourselves on being a caring employer which not only works hard to support local families with their childcare needs but which also works to support our own Mama Bear’s family with a good, stable income, wellbeing support and career progression.

“The move is also in recognition of the fantastic work done by our teams everyday amidst a worrying industry-wide shortage of nursery staff which is putting extra strain on practitioners.”

Mama Bear’s is a family-run business headed by Tony and wife Bev, an expert in early years education. With 24 settings across the South West, the group has become known for its affordable and flexible childcare provision.

If you’re looking for a job in childcare Mama Bear’s has a number of full- and part-time vacancies available across its settings, including nursery managers, nursery assistants, early years practitioners and early years educators.

For more information about Mama Bear’s visit www.mamabear.com