AIBU- free childcare NHS

[Newintown123]

I am a professional career nanny and have recently signed up to use bubble babysitting. I have received a barrage of job requests from NHS staff asking for free sits- some as long as 10 hours a day. A recent request required 10 hrs per day for 10 weeks- for FREE

AIBU- considering many nannies have had their hours reduced/ made redundant since an increasing number of parents are WFH

Very unreasonable! Surely they know you need to eat and have your own overheads? I say that as a health professional as well

Are they genuine NHS staff? I couldn't see any of my colleagues being so cheeky. Could be people trying their luck.

Wow, that is outrageous! I am a nurse and I can't see any reason NHS workers should get free childcare.

Bubble says they verify their NHS status before allowing them to advertise for free sits.

I guess cf have there always been in every sector and some have taken the im a key worker like their motto. Some companies still offer discounts for them so guess they’re trying their cf luck

I run a childrens play area - small family business that is a few months old. Constantly get asked if we do free/discount for NHS staff.
I get that some places do this but I think there is alot of expectation nowadays too.

I'm not familiar with this website - are you required to provide free baby sitting ? If not, I'd ignore the requests for free babysitting unless you are required to reply by the website. Alternatively you can reply with a standard email, for example......

"Thank you for your request. I am only able to offer a 3 hour block of free baby sitting once a week. This offer is only available once for each family. I am sure you will understand as whilst I'm happy to help families this is my main source of income for my family.

Otherwise my rates are £xx per hour/ per child, with a max block of 6 hours on any one day".

Never work for free, never. It always bites you back when you do

There are people who will try it on everywhere. I have a good friend who is a paramedic and he is very vocal about the fact that yes, his work has been spectacularly tough over the last 18 months but he has a stable job and a steady income.

Other people are far more in need.

YANBU. I don’t understand why free childcare is expected because they’re NHS staff. (FWIW, I’m NHS staff and certainly don’t expect freebies).
What would have been amazing would be childcare (inc wraparound care) that coincided with Ward shift patterns! None existed when my eldest was a baby, nor when my youngest was tiny.

@Newintown123

Bubble says they verify their NHS status before allowing them to advertise for free sits.

Where do they say this?

Do you have any screenshot of the messages? Very doubtful these are requests from actual NHS staff members

Take issue with bubble, for some reason they send requests to volunteers and to those not on the list but who fit the criteria:

bubble.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360007119517-Free-Bubble-for-the-NHS-FAQ

Not all n h s staff have been impacted by Covid, only those in I C U or H D U

Not all n h s staff have been impacted by Covid, only those in I C U or H D U

That's completely untrue.

Wow. I'm nhs and like a pp said I've had a very secure job and income. I wouldn't dream of asking for discounts or freebies. There are always people who take a chance though!

I've just clicked on that link. Are people maybe misinterpreting the "Free Bubble for NHS" It also says "You will not be asked to pay anything to your volunteer" So maybe they've come through to the wrong section or something.

@isadoradancing123

Not all n h s staff have been impacted by Covid, only those in I C U or H D U

Bollocks

@isadoradancing123

Not all n h s staff have been impacted by Covid, only those in I C U or H D U

Blatantly untrue.

@isadoradancing123

Not all n h s staff have been impacted by Covid, only those in I C U or H D U

I know people who work in an acute hospital and in the community who have all been impacted by covid one way or another. Some have supported very acutely unwell patients and some are working with the patients who have severely reduced functional ability due to covid. Others have had to completely change the way they work.

Thing about 'NHS staff' is that it includes all the admin/support functions. Some of whom have had it hard but I know others who have been wfh and not at risk at all and yet they get lumped in with the hero practitioners on the frontline.

Absolute CFs
My friend owns a pub and gets asked constantly if they do blue light/NHS discounts (they don’t their profit margins are slim due to extortionate rents and rates and they just can’t afford to) and they’ve had people have what can only be described as full on tantrums about it.
NHS staff here are fast becoming the U.K. equivalent of military wives in the US… it’s embarrassing

The problem is that bubble sends you the requests for volunteers, even though you’re not a volunteer. They say they do this so that the nhs staff will also reach applicants who do not volunteer and will need to be paid. So it’s not actually nhs staff being cheeky at all - they’ve been told there may be volunteers available, so they’re seeing if there is a volunteer available/willing to help them. They’re not actually asking you to do it. Bubble are just passing on the details to you, so that if you want to you could contact them saying if you don’t get a volunteer that you would be interested in a paid role.

If they're genuine nhs staff (which I doubt) they're probably used to getting loads of free stuff!

More likely they're changers!

Chancers!

I know many NHS staff have had a hard time. But unlike me, they have had a steady income. Incredibly cheeky.