Hello mums,
I'm a nanny, personal tutor and private tutor which I have been doing for several years in between university and working towards my medical degree. I thought it might be useful to give some feedback from the point of view of the nanny so you can be aware of what goes on behind the scenes.
First the negatives: Royal nannies are an absolute disgrace. From the point of view of a nanny, despite having interviewed with them and spoken on several occasions, they took me off a job application because the client wanted someone who was native English... I am half French and half Welsh and have lived in London my whole life. I have also been through the British education system in terms of sixth form and university. My agent blamed me and rather than apologise, she decided to threaten me by taking me off her system. Naturally there is no objective system for dealing with complaints either due to the small size of the agency. Following this incident, I did some research of my own, speaking to other nannies and parents, a vast majority of whom informed me that the nannies presented at interview were very rarely anything like they were described by the agent. I currently take care of 6 children and I know exactly how important it is that your child is safe. I would recommend steering clear of this agency.
Imperial nannies was mentioned here also. After 10 years experience as a nanny and tutor and music teacher and the degrees including a medical one, I have not been offered a single interview. I enquired into the matter further and discovered that the agency, being a large one, spends more time recruiting people in order to increase the numbers on their data. This would result in them being seen as a more serious and reliable company. However, there is no authenticity in this. It is of course the agency I am referring to here rather than the nannies. Yet often I have been informed they may send a Spanish nanny rather than a Russian one...
Now for the positives, nanny Tatta are a fabulous agency. They train their nannies well and obtained more information from me during the interview than any other company. They taylor each nanny to the perfect family.
Degree nannies is more new but the agent there is absolutely wonderful. She is patient, kind, resourceful and encouraging. She is also firm but fair. She does not take on just anyone as each nanny needs a sufficient amount of experience to be taken on. She runs her agency in Fulham.
Londongoverness is also an agency I've had a positive experience with. The family were great and the agent communicates effectively (and most importantly) immediately between the potential nanny and family so that everyone is informed fairly.
Those are my comments from a nanny perspective.
BW