Nursery World - New pressures to regulate nannies

An organisation representing nanny agencies and a Labour MP are both putting pressure on the Government to regulate nannies. Representatives of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) met with Sure Start minister Catherine Ashton on Monday to discuss the setting up of a register of excluded nannies, similar to List 99 for teachers. REC, which represents some but not all nanny agencies in England, said it was 'imperative' that the details of nannies who had mistreated children in the past were placed on an exclusion register and that such a register was run by the Department for Education and Skills.

Representatives of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) met with Sure Start minister Catherine Ashton on Monday to discuss the setting up of a register of excluded nannies, similar to List 99 for teachers. REC, which represents some but not all nanny agencies in England, said it was 'imperative' that the details of nannies who had mistreated children in the past were placed on an exclusion register and that such a register was run by the Department for Education and Skills.

Peter Cullimore, chair of the REC childcare division, said it was making the move because efforts to persuade the Government to set up a national register of nannies had been unsuccessful. 'People have been trying to get a nanny register for years without success and this is a way forward. Just as there isn't a list of all teachers - only an exclusion list, List 99 - so too there should be a list of excluded nannies.

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