I'm getting confused- a nanny MUST be an employee, but they don't actually need a qualification...

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All checks should be ongoing - as things can change quickly. The latest from Ofsted is that they aren't re-doing CRB checks for registered nannies every year, like the old scheme did. Same will go for childminder CRB checks... they may get done every 3 years if you are lucky.

Parents should not rely on anyone to carry out checks. They should be able to do their own. Yet our Government does not permit that. Why? Isn't that the question that should be asked? Why can't parents choose to pay for a CRB check, on a carer whom is providing care for their child... be that carer a childminder, nanny, au-pair, nursery staff, teacher. What does a CRB check actually do anyway... all it says is that a x point in time, the person had not been convicted or cautioned for an offence.
I've seen nursery staff CRB checks... they can contain a lot of information, but as the 'crimes' were not to do with harming children, Ofsted would permit them to work in a nursery. Do parents who use nurseries ever get to see those checks - I doubt it. If they did, I wonder how many mums would take their handbag into a nursery!

I believe that with the reponsibilities of being an employer whould come the priviledge of defining the job.

What is the point of requiring a CRB check on a foreign nanny?

I don't want Eyfs regulating the care of a toddler. That's why I have a nanny. I do care if my nanny is ahealthy eater and if she likes to work out. Those are high on my list. But they won't be high on someone else's list.

Government regulation belongs in schools and small businesses, not in my home.

I think if you start licensing nannies, you will find more people paying cash in hand.

Far too much regulation these days. For the majority of parents, it is parents who know what is best for their child... not Government. Alas some parents don't know how to bring up children, they don't know what's best for their child... those are the ones who need the help, advice, guidance - even regulation. But why should we all drop down to that level... why can't legislation be there as a safety-net for when things get out of hand, rather than being there to make everyone the same.

Crb checks don't prove that you haven't commited a crime, they just show that you haven't had any convictions. Also, my health declaration form had about a dozen tick boxes to be filled out and a space for the Dr to go into more detail if relevant. The practice manager filled mine out (incorrectly, ticked that I had every possible illness on the list!!!). I crossed out her ticks and re-ticked the correct ones and it all went through. There were no questions asked by Ofsted!

I struggle to see who these rules are there for. I'm under the impression that it's to safeguard children but that doesn't seem to happen when issues are raised about a child's safety.

And as for CSSIW (Wales), don't even get me started............

I have to admit I would not want a prospective employer delving into my medical records.

not that I have anything to hide per say, but as a young 'un I had many a medical complaint that is totally irrelevant to my life now but I could see how the amount of illness I had as a child would concern a former employer ifyswim?

also, hypothetically, say you had a period of depression etc in your teens, this would show up but is it really fair to make that common knowledge to an employer?
they would obviously hold this (unfairly??) against you.

also, the CRB process is rubbish. I have a nanny friend who couldn't be bothered to list all the addressees she'd lived at for the last 5 years so she just put one and it went through, no questions asked!

my answers sound proper shifty lol

That's a good point. No other employee needs to show anyone his/her medical record, why should nannies have to? AFAIK only doctors have to show they've got their Hep B up to date. Maybe a few other professions for some v good reasons.

Why should nannies have to? Because being a nanny can be a physically demanding job. Other employees do have to show fitness (teacher for one but it also happens in the city too). I would always ask this question now, having had the experience of two nannies working for us with preexisting medical conditions. Could the job make the nanny's problem worse? Both legal and human factors at play here. Legally where would we be if it did get worse, and it could be said to be through her duties with us? Secondly, you can have people saying i'll be fine, i'll be fine, and they aren't, they go off sick, etc. Not nec out of malice - I'll take the job because it suits - but maybe because they want to please and they just keep working long after it's good for them. This is not a good situation for anyone.

Not to mention alcohol,drug misuse and a load of other things I for one would want to know about when leaving my vulnerable young children in the sole care of a nanny.

I'm not sure how this works, in terms of whether they can go on a fishing expedition through your medical records as such, and how far back. I can well understand why people wouldn't want or feel they had to disclose as relevant conditions they had a number of years ago, or irrelevant but personal information being passed on. What I am talking about are current (or quite recent and potentially recurrent) problems which would make a nanny job difficult.

How many of us had qualifications as parents before our first dc arrived?

And yet They let us have full-time, unsupervised one-on-one care of a helpless newborn.

Cthea, I have been in several positions both work wise and voluntary where I have had to have medical checks.

When I worked at a large conpany in an office I had to have a medical with the company doctor. I had to fill in a detailed medical questionaire to be a volunteer breastfeeding peer supporter and more recently I am having to have a medical/give permission for my records to be seen in order to become a children's theatre chaperone.