Foreign nannies & UK CRB check

[DizziDoll]

We are about to hire our first nanny and she is Italian, living in Italy at the moment. She has an Italian CRB.
Do we need to get a UK CRB check for her and if so, how do we go about this?
We found her ourselves so don't have an agency to do this for us.
Any advice would be very welcome.

There's really no point unless you need her to register with OFSTED. As long as she can prove she's spent her adult life in Italy and Italian check will be fine. She'll have no history in the UK to check.

You also can't get a DBS (they renamed it) check carried out yourselves so you'd need to go through a third party such as a nanny agency.

I have hired a fair few nannies/au pairs from outside the UK. I have never bothere with a CRB because it would prove nothing. I have never had cause to regret this decision.

That was my thinking too. Thanks!
Anything else I need to think of? Her references are amazing and we have a good feeling from our skype calls.
She will be live-in.

I assume you've sorted contract, PAYE etc and found out how she needs to go about applying for an NI number?

Does your contents insurance a) have employers liability cover and b) cover her possessions while living with you?

I assume you have talked to the references, and not just read them at face value. If not, I recommend you do.

A clear and thorough contract is essential.

Make a nice welcome pack (local travel information, maybe some money on a starbucks cars, some pointers on where/how to meet local au pairs and nannies),

I'll use payefornannies.com for payroll and they will do the contract for me.

I've emailed the references and asked to speak to them this week.

Good point about a NI number. What is the process?

I really like the welcome pack idea.

Thanks!

It's done via JobCentrePlus now. HMRC has details of the process and documents you need. It's something that needs doing pretty much as soon as she arrives.

Don't be afraid to add stuff or amend the contract. The one they give you will be a standard template and you may want to put some extra clauses in or change some phrasing.

What's her English like? Are you going to need to investigate English lessons that are convenient times in the local area? Will you need her to drive? If so you might want to book a few lessons so she can acclimatise to the wrong side of the road.

I recommend starting a new thread title something like "stuff a first time nanny employer should think about regarding the contract?"

Holiday entitlement (and who chooses what and when)
Sick pay (SSP only?)
Notice period (on both sides!)
Disciplinary action... and what constitutes grodd misconduct.

Also do a MN search on house rules. Stuff you never thought you'd need to think about will suddenly seem so blatantly obvious. Things like "Do not leave the house without locking it."

If you are giving her a mobile phone, think about who replaces it when/if she loses it or drops it in the bath.