A BIDFORD charity which provides residential care for adults with learning disabilities has proved it's second time lucky after securing thousands of pounds from the Work-Life Balance Challenge, writes Helen Clarke.

The Home Farm Trust, in Arden Vale, has been given £35,000 to examine practical ways in which it can help staff strike a better balance between work, family and other responsibilities.

The Work-Life Challenge is run by the Department for Education and Employment and is designed to tackle business problems, such as high staff turnover and absenteeism, by looking at more flexible working practices to support better balance between work and home life.

HFT's head of human resources, John Rotherham, said he was delighted the charity had been selected in the second round of funding announcements.

He said: "While working in the care sector can be exceptionally rewarding, it can also be stressful.

"We want to improve our work practices to minimise the stress while continuing to offer high quality standards of care.

"We're delighted to receive the Challenge Reward, which will allow us to further our commitment to addressing the underlying causes of poor work-life balance over the long term."

In line with the terms of the Challenge fund, an external employment consultant will assess the situation at the scheme and after talks with staff, recommend a number of practical solutions to meet agreed objectives.

A pilot scheme will be run to test the options and the results of all the actions taken. All findings will be published externally and internally.