Regulation Matters (RM) wrote to children and families minister Vicky Ford in July, to express the ‘urgent need’ for a registration scheme for nannies and a regulation process for nanny agencies in the wake the childcare crisis caused by the pandemic.
But in a response received last week, Ms Ford said that regulation of this kind of care in a child’s own home would be ‘too intrusive’ into family life.
Tricia Pritchard, chair of RM told Nursery World, ‘This is a complete dereliction of responsibility on the part of Government and a shameful failure to fulfil its obligations.
‘It’s a gaping loophole that Covid has made wider. Parents have got to be comfortable in the knowledge that the childcare options that they’ve got are safe – particularly at a time when they are being encouraged to get back to work. And at the moment, that’s not the case.’
She added, ‘The reality is that suspect carers who wouldn’t get through the checks to work at a nursery, playgroup or as a registered childminder, can become a nanny.
‘And, some nanny agencies refer to nannies who are on the Ofsted voluntary register as ‘registered nannies’.
The voluntary register and the compulsory register that childminders and nurseries are subject to couldn’t be further apart. The fear is that parents will make assumptions about the childcare they choose as it’s not transparent enough.’
In her response, Ms Ford said that the Government ‘immensely values’ the selfless dedication that early years and childcare staff demonstrate in their work every single day. She acknowledged that ensuring young children can be cared for in order that their parents are able to go to work is of the ‘utmost importance, now more than ever’.
But she added, ‘Nannies (or home-based childcarers) are employed by parents to provide care to children in the parents’ home. Parents are responsible for making all the arrangements for payment of income tax and national insurance contributions, organising security checks, and other procedures for those that they employ.
‘We believe it is right that parents should be able to choose this type of childcare for their child, if they wish to do so, and regulation of this kind of care in a child’s own home would be too intrusive into family life. Therefore, responsibility to formalise working arrangements and organise security checks rests with parents, as they are the employer and remain the sole arbiter of quality and safety of childcare in their own homes.’
RM launched a 10-Point Charter in August to secure the safety of all children cared for in their own home and ensure that all nannies deliver the highest standards of childcare for working parents.
The campaigning body is now in the process of developing a self-regulation framework for nannies that it hopes to present to Government in February 2021.
Responses from a survey to establish views on nanny registration are currently being collated and the findings will be used soon to help develop the future framework.
https://www.regulationmatters.co.uk/
- Guidance on employing a nanny is available for parents at https://www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law.
