nanny ad, critical comment welcome

[sleeplessinderbyshire]

Would anyone mind giving me some feedback on my nanny advert (have posted on netmums and on childcare.co.uk so far but happy to edit it if anyone thinks it is pants). I've never had a nanny before so this is all very new

THE ADVERT:

"I'm looking for a part time nanny to look after my two children from February 2013 when I return to work after maternity leave. The girls will at that point be 3.5years old and 6 months old. We need someone either from 7am til 7pm on a Monday or from 1pm-7pm on a Monday and Thursday. We live in XYZ village and have two very placid cats and 5 free range chickens in the garden.

The ideal person will be loving, fun, creative and flexible. Previous experience as a nanny would be ideal but not essential if you have previous experience of looking after children of these ages. You must be able to drive and have access to a car for work (mileage will be reimbursed at standard rates). We are a non smoking household.

Salary negotiable depending on experience

If you are interested in this post please contact me"

Any thoughts??

Whilst you can't get a CRB check, if you are in Scotland you could get a Basic level check done. If you are in England/Wales then I think that police forces will print off a copy of their police record (if any). To get hold of this, they would have to apply to their local police service and ask for a ?subject
access request? under the Data Protection Act 1998. There will probably be a
charge for this (£10 probably) and can take up to 40 days.

They could contact a local nanny agency and ask nicely if they would process a check for them, it is likely to cost quite a bit more than the CRBs own fee, as the nanny agency will probably be using a thrid party to process the check and then add on some admin charge themselves.

Will a CRB check tell you anything you don't already know about the person? It might but it probably won't. So you could ask for a signed statement saying that since the date of her last CRB check she has not had any cautions or convictions.

CRB is changing in 2013, so there may come a point during next year that checks can be applied for easier. It is unknown at this stage but it may become easier to apply for checks for domestic staff.

Tinies Screening Service may be useful but it's quite costly. They charge £91 for the CRB check, not clear if that is Enhanced Level or not, though at that price I would expect it to be the Enhanced level check.

When I worked for a while as a nanny I signed on with an online agency that charged me for a security check which I could use either for work arising from membership of that agency or for others who might be interested in my services but not necessarily interested in going through the agency. Maybe the potential nanny would be willing to sign up for something online and pay herself, if there is some such thing available. I think a nanny would understand how a parent would be interested in making sure of her record and would be willing to stump up for a background check.

If you ask her to register with Ofsted, they will do a CRB check. It also means you can use childcare vouchers to pay her. It costs £103 a year I think, you would normally be expected to pay this, although you could ask her to pay, some nannies do.

I find it quite sad that anyone would be 'wary' of employing a woman who has taken a career break to raise children with absolutely no knowledge of her qualifications, experience, what she has been doing during her career break, her personality, her references etc.

We should probably also be 'wary' of employing women 18-35 as well in case they get pregnant and go on maternity leave....and probably women aged late 40's-50's incase of menopausal mood swings....in fact probably best to stop employing women altogether!

I've just recruited a nanny using nannyjob.co.uk. It was £25 to post the ad and keep it live for a month and the calibre of applicants I got was much better than childcare.co.uk.

I specified salary and a need to be OFSTED registered (so we can use childcare vouchers), and am really pleased with the nanny we have lined up.

I see your point outraged :)

Regards ofsted - employers should pay the cost - it's no benefit to the nanny - of anything it's a pain especially when get paid several times a month rather then One payment

no nannies in my area would pay the cost

That is my thought too Outraged.

Actually, nannying was my first job post divorce and SAHMing and I am forever grateful to the family that gave me that chance. I paid for my security screening because I desperately needed a job and I didn't want it to be a stumbling block for a potential employer.

Arse arse arse. we met her today and really liked her as did the 3 year old. Took up references by phone - all good. Emailled job offer and have just had reply saying she has been offered and accepted a different job.

Had my hopes up and now dashed. Hope someone else will reply to my ad as am feeling rather despondent now

What a shame. Good luck with the next one .

When I got my job offer it was right there at the interview after a preliminary phone interview at which I had given my reference details so they had checked me out before I sat down with them. Mind you my charge was a baby of 4 months so the question of the baby taking to me wasn't really an issue.