Advice needed on best places to look for childcare please...

[Nem1]

I am new mum of three months and will need to have some sort of childcare in place at the beginning of next year.

Having looked at the options I think I would prefer to go for a childminder or nanny share if possible.

Nanny agencies were recommended to me as a way of finding the right person. And plenty of people I know have used Gumtree as a way of posting an advert and finding good nannies.

I have also found a website called Simply Childcare which looks very promising.

Have any of you tried any of these methods of searching and do you have any tips?

Thanks for reading this and any responses you post.

Nem1

Local council websites are a good way to find local CMs

Your local families information services can match childminders to your individual needs.

Direct.gov will have childminders listed (one day) but they closed the old website before making sure the new one was working

How to recruit a nanny - part 1: advertising
Hoe to recruit a nanny - part 2: nanny agencies

Childminder listings are held by your local council (either district council or county council, it varies by area). Where are you located?

I am London based and initially had real trouble locating the exact local council website or any numbers to call.

But thanks to MN and you guys have found a number to call and the Direct.gov website. Will investigate further.

Thanks so far...

To find your Families Information Service in England use NAFIS Directory. Click Search Users (just below a box saying FIS in England on the right side of the page) and enter in your county/district. Or call 0800 2 346 346 from a BT landline.

No news yet on when the Direct.Gov website will be working correctly. The information on there at ChildcareFinder.Direct.Gov.uk is not accurate currently (especially the Immediate Vacancies field - everyone I've looked at says NO, when that may not be the actual case), though doing a search on there using your postcode may produce the local number for your Families Information Service.

I am trying to get the provider of the system to remove the Immediate Vacancies field (or display text like "please call") until such time that the new system actually works.

In addition to the above suggestions You could try netmums for your local area,
childminderfinder.co.uk
childcare.co.uk
childmindingforum.co.uk