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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

Help needed please.Au pair hit my child - Police were called TGNC agency not giving a refund

7 replies

sarahjanet · 09/02/2019 08:59

I would really appreciate some help. I was recently widowed and luckily I had never had to use external childcare. After trying to do it all on my own I finally gave in an tried to find help. I engaged an agency called TGNC who found me a family assistant at £1000 Per month - total placement fees were £750. To cut a long story short we were not happy with her on numerous occasions and had contacted the agency but were advised to keep going and it can take a while to gel. She helped out a friend of mine who's child has chronic fatigue and the reports coming back were very bad. This is when I knew she had to go. I informed the agency and chatted with the Au Pair and all very amicably she was given her notice. The next night I got a call from my seven year old son asking me to come home ASAP. When I returned they were both in a state and she said she had hit him for splashing around in the bath. I then went upstairs and asked both boys 5 &7 to show me what happened and he gently hit me around the face and said it was like that but much harder. I then emailed the agency to say what had happened and they said they needed to call the police and report it. No call to check we were ok no offer of help. When the police arrived at my home they took it very seriously and said I had two option to press charges or she had to leave tonight. As my boys had been through so much the last thing I wanted to do at 1.00 am was to wake them and cause them more stress. They took her to a local hotel and as far as I was aware she was on a plane back to Spain the next day. The subsequent handling of the incident by the agency has almost been worse. They have not called or check in or offered any support. They will not refund the fees - given the person they placed in my house assaulted my child and until I fully press charges she is still on their books and able to look after children... What should I do???

OP posts:
Finfintytint · 09/02/2019 09:15

Very little now if you didn’t support a police investigation and she’s back in Spain. What does the agency contract say about fees?

bibbitybobbityyhat · 09/02/2019 09:35

What are the basics of the letters between you and the agency regarding the fees?

Why was she also working for a friend of yours at the same time?

How long did she work for you?

And was she really an au pair? £1000 pcm seems very high pay for an au pair.

sarahjanet · 09/02/2019 11:36

Apparently she did not go back to Spain and shes staying with another girl from the same agency and is on childcare.co.uk looking for more work...I have re contacted the police as case is still open and have asked to press charges so she can not work with anyone else

OP posts:
sarahjanet · 09/02/2019 11:39

They say the contract was between myself and her - which is was. However, when you engage an agency and pay to do the proper checks and references - they handled all of this. In hindsight I should have asked to speak to her previous employer as she was only there for two months. As you can imagine our lives are in turmoil following the death of the boys father and their level of customer service, care and empathy given the area they operate in is quite shocking. They say if I press charges - which will be highly traumatic for my boys they 'may' offer a refund.

OP posts:
sarahjanet · 09/02/2019 11:42

See attached for contract.

She did not work in the day as mine were at school. I have a friend whos child has chronic fatigue and asked if anyone knew of someone who could go for two hours in the day and do a few chores and make him lunch.

She was with us just over 3 months.

They call it a family assistant see here www.tgnc.co.uk/family-assistant - apparently due to brexit there are no au pairs or very difficult to find. I have never had to use one before so all new to this.

OP posts:
MinecraftMother · 11/02/2019 22:59

Where are you based OP?

The reason I ask is that in England we don't get to decide whether or not the police pursue a matter, via the CPS, to a charge. The police and CPS decide this.

If you are in the States then you can decide but the law regarding the contract with the agency will differ.

What a horrid story.

EmShel · 03/03/2020 23:22

I know I am joining an old thread but I wanted to share some TGNC thoughts too. They sell themselves as an award winning agency, I paid £1000 for what ended up being 3 poor nannies over a year. I only needed after school care, a few hours a day. The first left after a month as the job was interfering with her other business (I found out she had been taking my daughter to her house to run the business during our shifts), the second nanny left after a month as she wanted to be with her baby (I expressly asked the agency to make sure she was happy to be away for a few hours a day) and the third worked for 3 months, then was off sick for 6 weeks (we covered stat sick pay as well as a cover nanny), she came back for a few weeks, then was sick again then quit with zero notice right before xmas. When I spoke to the agency to ask about previous positions with them it transpired NONE of these nannies had ever worked for the agency before. I may as well have gone onto Childcare.co.uk and saved myself £1000! I do not recommend this agency!

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