Mothers help/nanny without CRB. Should I be worried?

[toomanywheeliebins]

Hi there,
Currently on my second mat leave and am about to be made redundant (whole other thread) so am looking for some additional help with my 8 month baby while I job hunt, attend and prepare for interviews. My older child attends nursery a few days a week but I an struggling to do the work needed with my crawler!

Advertised on a local site and got a few responses. One looks hopeful and I am meeting her later in the week. She has provided written references which I am currently checking out (via phone) but I am pretty certain she hasn't got a CRB cert (will ask her of course). I know these are only valid "at the time" but they are some reassurance. I think the candidate is young and has two long stints of work with families but not through an agency and lots of babysitting (again looking at references this seems to be informal).

Is there anything I could do as an individual to do a CRB check on her? I have worked for organisations where we check our staff as standard but we go through an agency. Is it reasonable to have an un-CRB checked competent woman looking after my baby while I am in the house (ie doing prep work in the study)? This is what work does- that staff member is supervised until clearance comes through.

Help very greatly appreciated. Have only used nursery so far, and they do all this.

Ask them to contact a nanny agency and see if the agency will do a check. You could offer to pay, it can be quite costly now.
Some nanny agencies offer a screening service to parents recruiting themselves so you could ask an agency.
You can't get a DBS check (no longer CRB) direct yourself, has to go via a third party.

Up to you if you require a check or not.

A response from nannynick. very exciting..
Thanks for help. Would be unreasonable to say..i will pay half of the crb and she takes a slightly reduced rate until her half is paid up. How much are they?
Wouldn't want to do anything unethical- we really like to treat people nicely esp. those looking after our children.

Cost will vary. Tinies charges £91.

You could go halves I suppose. Ask them what they feel is reasonable.

No I don't think you can ask her to pay. It's not her fault that she can't acquire one independently and I think personal recommendation and well-checked references are much better than a DBS check. While it offers some level of comfort and you know the person has never been convicted of a criminal office, you could turn it on its head and say all it tells you is that the person in possession of one has never been caught doing something illegal!

She can acquire one through an agency, several nanny agencies will do them for nannies even if they are not looking for work through them. Most if not all nannies I know would make sure they have a fairly recent one if job hunting as nearly all parents require one.

i would make her pay, it is benefit to her to be checked if she wants jobs

many agencies local to me will do one for a nanny even if not looking for work

and yes i personally wouldnt employ someone who wasnt cleared, even if you are about

I wouldn't bother. CRBs are not worth the paper they are written on. I would thoroughly check references though.

She should pay for it tbh, I'm sure that most nannies do?! The new DBS is easier too, Tinies put mine through for me, £55 to them and then I paid £15 to the DBS agency to sign up to the yearly renewal, it'll cost me £15 a year from now on to keep it renewed. Bargain.

Thanks for all your comments and views. I suppose I am a bit torn because I do think as pp have said detailed references are better than a piece of paper but I also don't think I am totally off the mark requiring one.

Anyway - could have worried too soon as she has replied to my question as to when her last check was "About three years ago and am looking to get another one done" which at face value is positive. I am aware that it takes a while to get them back (I have had numerous myself for various roles) so I guess I will have to make a call on whether three years ago and good references is OK.

My neighbour has also offered her lady for her few hours a week. This lady volunteers at the local salvation army playgroup so has been checked that way.

Anyway- off to prep for an interview now

Shouldn't take long an more as the new system is supposedly more efficient. Mine took less than 2 weeks in September, I've moved around a lot too, I was really impressed!

That's great to know. Thanks.

Thought I would update. Started checking references and none of the phone numbers worked. So individually messaged all the people who had recommended her on a local site (they only recommended her, no other posts) asking them to call me. None of them have called but almost immediately the nanny pulled out of our meeting. Which suggests that if I'm worried enough to post on mumsnet that something isn't right....

Sounds dodgy to me and thank god you checked - obv friends of her posing as ex employers

Hope you find someone soon

Remember that a CRB isn't a qualification - it's out-of-date the day after it's printed. It stands for Criminal Records Bureau check, which looks to see what arrests and convictions have been made up to that date. You do not receive automatic updates if convictions happen after the CRB check is issued.

The employer/agency is the one who sends in the application, not the individual. A new one has to be applied for at every new job application. I had two submitted at the same time while applying for different jobs - they're not interchangeable. If someone presents a CRB to you dated over 3 months old as an individual applying to you for a job (not an agency, who should keep checks on them) submit a request for another.

It's also not a valid form of I.D.

Hope this helps xx