How do you get the equivalent of a CRB check for a nanny nowadays?

[HomeHelpMeGawd]

It looks like it's got stupidly difficult:

• Can't deal with DBS directly
• Looks like nannies may not need to disclose anyway?

Does anyone know how this works (to the extent that it does....)

Thank you!

Nanny can get through an agency or by becoming ofsted registered

DBS check available via nanny agencies. It is done as part of a new Ofsted registration (in England). Expect other regulators will have a process for getting one done.

Still no way for a parent to get a check done on their employee.

Some agencies offer a screening service, such as Tinies who can do DBS, PVG in Scotland.

May be worth the nanny paying the yearly update fee, so that they can take the check with them to the next job. Up to them though, current cost is £13 per year. DBS Update Service

Oh boy. I thought it was merely difficult. I didn't realise it was actually impossible. That is crackers.

So I can look for an agency that will do a check on my behalf for a private arrangement, is that it, nannynick?

No the nanny will have to register with the agency and get them to do a check. You won't have anyway of knowing the results until employee shows them to you. Ie agency/ ofsted won't tell you/ get back to you

Yes, agencies will do it for you, for a fee.

DBS Enhanced Check can be done for £52.10 (this is the lowest amount someone could pay if getting it at the same time as registering with Ofsted) but then there will be agency processing fee on top. Expect it to cost £70-£100. Contact a local agency to ask if they offer the service.

No the nanny will have to register with the agency and get them to do a check.
Some agencies do not require that it seems, least not according to Tinies. The parent can request the check is done. The nanny will need to visit the agency though, with ID documents, so select somewhere local.

Completely mad! I would dearly like to know who to blame...

Yep, I thought one of the enquiries (Bichard perhaps) suggested a central database of all childcare workers along with a licencing system. Don't think it was a recommendation of the report, thus never happened, probably never will, as it would be like an ID card system for a lot of people in the UK. ISA scheme was remodelled on 15 June 2010, See here about half way down the page, so as of then things changed and we have not seen a system where by parents can easily check the status of a nanny.

Under the current scheme, if all nannies get a DBS check and register for the update service, then parents could check status using the online system. However that will take many years to happen and still there will be many nannies without a DBS check.

I don't have a DBS check, I have several CRB checks but as I have not changed job recently I have not needed to get a DBS check. Wonder if Ofsted would let existing nannies registered on the childcare register get a DBS check done... maybe but it is not clear at this stage.

That is nuts and a paedophile's charter the fact that parents cannot DBS/ CRB check their nannies who have sole charge of their children. It would be interesting to know if parents can CRB check Au pairs.

Parents can't CRB check anyone directly, but can use an agency to check anyone they want I would guess (nanny, babysitter, au pair etc.). If you're paying the fee I don't think the agency care about the job title.

There's a site HERE that enables you to do it online.

They can have checks done via an agency (who may then use an umbrella body or maybe a registered body in their own right) but parents can't request it directly themselves.

I think the problem is to do with asking exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Things to do with spent convictions.

Au Pairs and anyone who has lived abroad will pose an additional problem.
"If the applicant is from overseas, the employer can ask them to get a criminal records check, or 'Certificate of Good Character', from their country of origin." (Source) 'THEM' in this case means the job applicant.

Nice find ChippingIn, wonder if anyone has used them to obtain a check for a nanny - could work and is cheaper than many nanny agencies charge.

That looks like a great site, ChippingIn. And thank you nannynick for reminding me that employees who have spent material time abroad may have done something bad there!

Looks like a similar set up to the umbrella bodies a lot of agencies use (civil&corporate and so on). I'd be a bit dubious about the role of the verifier - it doesn't seem to have any requirement that the verifier be a person of standing in the community so a criminal offence providing false info may not worry them much!

I quite liked the Bichard central registration idea. IIRC employers (parents) could choose whether they felt the job required someone registered, so it still left room for choice but the sheer likelihood of parents/agencies requiring registration would mean nannies would sign up - and given that parents required it they wouldn't be allowed not to - and anyone not requiring registration would be doubly careful about the checks they did do.

Your nanny can apply for a basic disclosure on herself from disclosure scotland. It covers the uk. My friend did one recently.

A basic check is nowhere near sufficient! It doesn't cover spent convictions, or check POVA/POCA/List 99. A nanny needs and enhanced DBS with list checks.

Of course this system isn't perfect because many employers who sack a nanny with child protection concerns don't refer their concerns to the DBS anyway so it may not show up, but at least you then know they don't have any spent convictions for beating children.