Has anyone heard of Sitting Pretty Babysitters???

[Babysitter2]

Has anyone heard of Sitting Pretty Babyssitters- a new babysitting service? If so can you please advise whether it is a reputable provider.
Many thanks.

Hiya i have heard of them...did enquire to them but what put me of signing up to the agency is the fact part of the service is to spend an hour ironing the family your babysitting for clothes, so that put me of.

Ok thanks. Main thing Id like to know is if it is a certified company..I haven't heard of them before and want to make sure!

Certified by whom? Their address is in London, so to my knowledge they don't fall under regulation by any official body (only agencies in Scotland and I think Jersey possibly, fall under childcare regulation).

There is an Ofsted logo on their website but no indication as far as I can see as to why it is there, though they do say on the website that their babysitters "include OFSTED registered childminders, nursery staff and nannies".

The agency themselves however would not be regulated by Ofsted as they do not regulate agencies.

I can not locate any registered company information, so I would guess it is a sole trader, so any problems are the sole responsibility of the owner.

They are an introduction agency - which is how I imagine most agencies of this sort operate - so how good they are falls down to how good the person they introduce you to is. It isn't much different to finding a local babysitter via an internet site like www.Childcare.co.uk though using an agency does mean that the agency should be checking the suitability of the person doing the babysitting, where as if you contact a babysitter directly, you would be checking their suitability.

From your username I suspect you may be a babysitter looking for work. Looking at the website it seems that you would get paid directly by the parents, not the agency. The agency considers you to be a contractor not an employee. The agency however sets the fee level, so as a contractor you do not get to set your own fee.

Hi there, I've used Sitting Pretty Babysitters and they seemed pretty legit to me. Each time I've used them I've gotten a lovely lady who my DS liked, and they even introduced me to a few potential nanny candidates (and their fee was very reasonable for that compared to other agencies).

As NannyNick said, we paid our babysitter direct at the rate set by SP.

Thanks very much for your answers - they have been very helpful.
Kind regards.

What an odd idea (that's just my own opinion) ... get a babysitter and make them iron your clothes? I use babysitters and I babysit myself sometimes too. I do not begrudge my babysitters watching television/playing on their laptop/reading a book while my children are asleep.

Blondes doesn't iron - so have no desire to iron someone else's clothes while bs so guess this agency isn't for me :)

Maybe if they stuck a broom up the nannys bum they could ask to sweep the floor at the same time

I think it's called getting your money's worth. A good agency for people that really resent paying the babysitter to sit on the sofa and do nothing.