Just trying to hire a nanny in London for three days a week. Doing it all by the book, PAYE etc, but have been interviewing a Filipino nanny. There is obviously a very tight-knit Filipino community of nannies, housekeepers and cleaners and so on in London and so she was recommended through a friend's nanny, not through an agency. She has a British passport (just adding this detail to make it clear I'm DEFINITELY not trying to do some dodgy cut-price care deal taking advantage of someone with no visa!!!)
She worked in Saudia Arabia for a long time then came here in 2005. She says she worked as a live in nanny for a family for several years from when they had a baby. She has more recently been working as a cleaner/housekeeper part time.
She gave me a reference to check that I thought was her previous nanny employer in London, but turns out to be someone at her church who sounded a bit huffy about giving it (but this seemed related to her having stopped coming to church for a while after getting married). She says she can't give me another reference because the woman who she nannied for is in the countryside and she doesn't have their number? And then something about being a born again Christian? (her written English isn't the greatest).
On the one hand I don't want to leave my child with someone who does not have fully, open checkable references. On the other hand, I feel like a lot of Filipino women have been treated very casually by employers and its really hard for them to have to rely on the whim of a past employer a bit like a Victorian housemaid. Is the reference from someone at her church and a reputable nanny contact enough do you think?