childcare.co.uk - wrath paying money?

[teamB2011]

hi does anyone have a view? my friend consulted a list of childminders with the local authority so can't decide if that is better option to save cash. should also add that we are not ur we re not are if we want a childminder or nanny.

nannyjob might be good?

I paid for a single month and cancelled before a second payment came out a couple of years ago. I didn't find anyone and didn't think I got value for money.

Since then I've used the site a bit more cannily. If you just use the free service, find people who you would want to contact and google their username and/or a few keywords. At least some of the time you can find the same individual advertising on other sites, or even their own website if they are quite professional, so can find contact details for free.

You can look on childcare.co.uk without paying and see if they have a good range of possible childcare providers. I think looking at when the childminders or nannies last logged on will give you a good feel for whether they are actively seeking work and so regularly checking in. If there are a few potential matches, I would say it is probably worth paying for membership to make contact - certainly a lot cheaper than using an agency. But you can also place a free ad with your requirements and wait to see if anyone contacts you - it depends on how urgent your requirement is and whether you can afford to wait patiently for someone to come to you. The problem I find with the council system is that it is not used that much and people don't keep it updated (so a lot of the childminders etc on there are actually full). You still can't beat word of mouth recommendations, so ask friends and fellow Mums at school gate, toddler group and so on.