What checks do you do on people working in your home?

[HowIsItMarchAlready]

I was just wondering - cleaners, gardeners, window cleaners, pet sitters, baby sitters, and anyone else who works in your home. What kind of checks do you run on them before leaving them home alone?

Do you check they are DBS checked? Do you ring references? We don't really have any valuables in the home (apart from our gorgeous rescue/mixed breed dogs) but while my OH is quite happy to hire them and leave them to it, I'm less comfortable with that, at least the first few times.

Interested in what other people do.

Cleaners and gardeners none 🙈. Dog Walker was known locally and checked dbs . Have never used baby sitters but would definitely check them

None - tutor told me he had DBS check but I never actually checked. Much more important to be alert ... plenty of adults with valid DBS checks have abused children ... it only means you haven't been caught .

None but I'm normally there.

But I can imagine the kind of response you get if you're asking your plumber for a DBS certificate before he arrives...

Most people come from recommendations from friends. Tradespeople I tend to be in anyway so no checks.

None, but the only one of those we have is a window cleaner who stays outside anyway.

We currently have a house full of builders, I didn't check anything like that but they are a reputable company with a lot of reviews so I don't think they are going to be after my silver! When we've used a babysitter in the past it was a nursery nurse from DS's nursery so not an issue.

What about house or pet sitters? We are planning to go away this summer and need someone to look after the house/garden/cats and are looking to pay someone to stay while we are away.

Maybe house sitters will have a DBS certificate, but none of the others will, so I've no idea how the OP would check.

Choose people based on recommendation: ask friends, local FB/community groups. Much more reliable than a reference provided by the person in question.

Babysitters are all DBS checked but because they’re childcare professionals in their day jobs. I check professional reviews and/or get a recommendation from friends or neighbours for tradesmen.

It's an interesting question. I wouldn't even consider carrying out any sort of background check on someone working in my home. I work for a construction company and many (I'd say most) of our employees/subcontractors have convictions for all sorts of things, including some pretty awful violent crimes. And the main complaint we have with any of them - they didn't get to site when they were supposed to.

None?

If I employed childcare like a nanny then I’d expect a DBS check. Otherwise it’s either people recommended to us who we’d take on trust or people who wouldn’t be unsupervised access anyway.

I’d probably want references (plural) for a housesitter. But even then it’s hardly infallible so you are relying on trust.

If you have trust issues then you wouldn’t use that sort of service, I suppose.

@HowIsItMarchAlready

What about house or pet sitters? We are planning to go away this summer and need someone to look after the house/garden/cats and are looking to pay someone to stay while we are away.

Personally I wouldn’t have a stranger stay in my house. I have a younger single cousin that likes the opportunity to get out of his house share so he sometimes stays and looks after the place for us. For shorter trips or if he’s busy then the nurse from our vet’s practice does cat sitting and will also water the plants.

None. I take the view that it's more than their job is worth to steal anything. Although I don't usually go out and leave them to do a job. About 20 years ago we went away for a week and left a team to do our bathroom though but we did see a previous job and talk to the house owners on that occasion.

And a DBS check only shows you that they haven't been caught yet, anyway. They're not worth the paper they're written on, even for childcare.

I wouldn't use a housesitter either, don't have pets and the plants can take their chances (we only go away for a week at a time).

I didn't think you could get DBS checks done if you were a freelancer anyway as you can't get them for yourself. How does it work in that context?