Nursery staff won't provide out of hours care?

[ThatMauveSquid]

My baby goes to a council run/owned nursery. I want to go out for dinner next week two nights on the go - with a friend. However baby will need looking after.

Everyone says to ask the nursery staff, which I'm 100% comfortable with them looking after the baby, but it's a council run nursery and I don't think they would be allowed to?

It would be so ideal if one of the workers I already know could do it :/

And yes this obviously, not sure why you mentioned the hourly rate OP as the babysitting would be totally separate and you’d definitely need to pay more than that

Just ask the person who you want to do the babysitting and they will say yes or no. It isn’t a big deal at all, and there is no harm in asking.

a couple of posts have mentioned that's just 'being a parent' as if life should stop once you're a mother.

totally agree, OP can just ask!

Ahh it’s a shame this is no longer allowed 20 odd years ago i did this ( management had no issues and staff were happy to) and the parents were great and paid well (better than my nursery rate of £5 an hour!) Never had any issues and the money was much needed.

Babysitting pay would be more than nursery

You need to sort yourself out and ask. Asking wouldn’t get anyone in trouble. My sister used to babysit all the time for her key children.

Our extended family have quietly used two girls for a few years, they've done weekends and the odd evening. But they're not supposed to apparently.

Just ask the manager if they can connect you with any staff who do babysitting on the side. We used a private nursery, but that’s what I did and she connected me with two staff who did. One of them became our long term babysitter until we moved away. If you go through the manager, then it’s all above board.

Just ask them if anyone would be interested babysitting DC x date from x to x for x£/ hour. They will either tell you yes or no. And they might say would love to but can't because there is a policy against it. Not your responsability, you are just asking, for them to decide.

Just a question : you do know that you should pay more than 5£ / hour though ? The going rate is 10-15/ hour...

It may have changed but my DC’s key worker babysat for us regularly so I could work. They would bring them back from nursery, give them tea and put them to bed. Wasn’t on the sly so some nursery’s don’t have that rule. It will vary from business to business.

I would just ask the person that you’d like to do it or if there’s a few then ask the manager. If they say no then that’s your answer. I would check rates with them upfront as it usually is much more for a nursery work to babysit than someone without training,
If they say it’s against the rules say you didn’t realise. I’m not sure what else you think might happen.

Just ask if they know anyone, they can say no.

Oh and adult babysitters charge £15 an hour here, teen's around £10

Does that mean they have no professional liability insurance if they do it?

Just ask them if they can recommend a babysitter, if they say oh yes Doreen does that then great. If they say sorry no you have your answer. Babysitting will be a lit more than nursery fees though, about £15 an hour

I agree with this. Just because something is in a contract doesn't make it enforceable.

After all, there's nothing to stop a nursery worker leaving to become a nanny once they realise they can earn more that way and have made contacts locally anyway.

I think the poster meant that their bosses cannot refuse permission if the staff member wanted to babysit privately, unless it is in their contract that they cannot do it. She didn’t meant the individual didn’t have a choice; just that the boss wouldn’t be able to step in and refuse to allow it.

Correct. Just like if you used a family member (which we do) or a local baby sitter (which we don’t). They obviously have more training and experience and know your child so you have to weigh up those risks

Just ask the one you like the most or the one you’d be most comfortable with. When you next see her say ‘Oooh Amy, I’ve been meaning to ask you, do any of you girls do babysitting? Next Wednesday I’m going out and only really trust you here. Not sure if it’s allowed but I would need you from 7pm to 11pm and I’d give you £45?

They can either say Yes or No. of course you won’t get in trouble. They’ll get asked this all the time!

Why would they? Most parents use youngsters as ad hoc babysitters so wouldn’t expect them to have prof liability insurance or even be trained in basic first aid skills.

It’s up to the person providing the service whether they want to purchase public liability insurance to cover themselves. The law around harm is nothing like in the USA and a child hurt in an accident in England isn’t likely to lead to a lawsuit unless you can prove actual negligence or deliberate criminal actions led to the harm occurring.

Good grief. 5 pages of responses for the simplest of questions. Just ask the staff! If they are not allowed to or don't want to, they'll say no.

Nursery staff wages across the board are woefully low. A lot of staff are happy to up their income with a bit of babysitting on the side and the managers are aware and either happy with it or turn a blind eye. At my children's nursery one of the workers even made up a few business cards and sent them home in kids' bags saying she was available for babysitting!

No harm in asking or just find another babysitting service locally

This. Ask one of the members of staff if they can do babysitting. If they say no, then you’re not any worse off than not asking/knowing,

Could you ask them if they could recommend someone? That way they can say they would like to do it or they might recommend a reliable friend/ex colleague

Both nurseries my DC's went to said on their T&C's that they did not provide babysitting. However, if you wanted to arrange privately with the staff to do babysitting that was between you and the staff member & nothing to do with the nursery. At both nurseries quite a lot of the staff would babysit out of hours - we used them a few times. In our mind, we would rather someone we knew who had childcare experience, knew our child & had been through DBS checks etc. I still feel that was a lot better than using some random offering their services locally on facebook or the teenage kid of a neighbour!

Not preventing staff from babysitting but making it clear that it's nothing to do with the nursery is the best way to approach this.

The nursery cannot control what it's staff do in their own time (as long as its not something that makes them a danger to DC of course) and it could actually be beneficial for staff retention as if they're allowed to top up their income by occasional babysitting, it might mean they're less likely to leave for better paid work, not more. I know a few nursery workers who absolutely love their jobs, they just wish they were better paid.