Best Bear have produced the first fully researched and quality controlled guide to childcare agencies. Finally parents will be able to select a nanny, au pair or maternity nurse agency with confidence. They will know that the agency comes recommended after screening by Best Bear. It is important to note that au pair and nanny agencies are tested very differently and you will find outlines of each test below.
Please be advised also that Best Bear are unable to test whether agencies demand police checks and we urge parents to follow up on this themselves.
Only agencies we recommend appear on our site -We are aiming to retest agencies once a year.
Why we've produced this guide
The biggest problem for parents and nannies in their search for suitable placements is not knowing who to trust in terms of agencies and recommendations. The latter part of the eighties and nineties saw a swathe of stories in the press about bad nannies and shoddy agency practices which have left many of us parents nervous, and rightly so. It seemed ridiculous that there was no recommendation or guidance system in place to help parents in such a sensitive area, yet if we want to find a good restaurant or go on holiday there are any number of guides or reviews. So, we decided to produce the first thorough 'consumer' guide to nanny agencies.
The founders of bestbear.co.uk, we used to work together as television producers. We were juggling small children, work and nannies. Over coffee one day we discovered that we'd both had bad experiences with nannies who had been sent to us via agencies who had clearly not done their job in terms of checking references and suitability. At the time we both felt aggrieved about the situation but ultimately powerless. However, the germ of an idea began to grow. If we wanted some kind of assurance then there must be thousands of other parents who would feel the same way. We began to check if there was any system of recommendation, or any kind body that could help in suggesting a reputable nanny agency. Our research proved illuminating.
A Much Needed Service
We spoke to numerous bodies including Trading Standards Officers, Council Under-Eight Officers, childcare charities, educational groups and parenting organizations. The response in terms of ways of giving parents some kind of recommendation regarding nanny agencies in their area was the same, "We'd love to be able to help out, but we can't." They all agreed that this was an area that was in dire need of change as far as parents were concerned.
We felt encouraged by this, but alarmed by what one trading standards officer told us. We asked what would happen if we moved to a new area and were searching for a childcare agency - would they be able to tell us if there had been complaints against any particular agencies. They said, "Much as we would like to help, we really can't pass on that kind of information." We pressed them further asking if they really had dreadful complaints about an agency would they be able to help us avoid them? They were extremely apologetic and said they could understand our concern but weren't in a position to act. The officer said they did have complaints about various agencies but they couldn't pass the information on.
The local councils that we spoke to took the same line. They didn't want to be responsible for making any recommendations. They said: "We wish we could be more helpful but at the moment the system is geared towards childminders."
There is some good news though. The government announced plans early in 2002 to produce a register that would provide some kind of official standard for agencies. To our disappointment we found that many of that many reputable nanny agencies were dubious about how such a register would work and be policed. They also felt it would tie them up in red-tape.
Vetting nanny agencies using "The Helen Test" (please note this does not apply to au pair agencies)
Best Bear decided to take on the task of 'testing' the agencies by getting right down to the nitty-gritty. We recruited a top investigative TV journalist, Yasmin Pasha, who has presented an investigative series for Carlton TV and various reports which required under-cover or secret filming for London Tonight. We chose her because she has a particular interest in shoddy nanny agency practices after producing several harrowing reports for television. Secondly we recruited Helen Taggart an NNEB qualified nanny with 15 years experience behind her. Together they devised a screening process which would eke out information from agencies without them being aware of it. We called it the 'Helen' Test - simple questions carefully designed to spot which agencies were ruthless in vetting the girls they sent out. Helen adopted a different persona as she put the agencies through their paces. The ones who passed were then invited to join bestbear.co.uk and advertise their agency on the site. So far over a hundred have decided to join us - they pay for emails they receive from potential parent or childcarer business.
Helen Taggart has contacted hundreds of agencies over the past few months and the experience was in some cases fantastically reassuring and in other cases deeply disturbing: "Being a trained NNEB nanny I have been interviewed and placed by many agencies myself over the years. It has always been pretty clear to me which agencies take the trouble to check you out and there are some basics principles on which good agencies always work.
As an experienced, qualified nanny I was fascinated to see how I would be received as 'Helen Taylor' a girl with no real experience and whose only childcare reference is from her sister. She has other references that she's going to try and chase up.
Shocking Findings
My first real shock was the fact that so many agencies were willing to send me out on interviews almost immediately taking the information I gave them at face value and never meeting me in person. They were effectively happy to send a total stranger to someone's home and make them pay for the privilege.
I couldn't believe that after a ten minute conversation (or less) they would send a girl with no readily available references or real experience to potentially care for young children. Several agencies were suggested placing me in sole charge of babies and one agency wanted to place me in sole charge of 18 month old twins! As an experienced nanny I was furious that they could suggest such a thing. I could have understood it if they had suggested I act as a Mother's Help, but to suggest that an inexperienced 20 year old should care for twins of that age seemed almost criminal to me.
Other agencies were not worried about the fact that the only reference I had was from a family member, in fact several of them seemed more concerned about 'bumping up' my CV to make it sound as if I had more experience than I did. One agency pondered "well, have you done any more baby-sitting in the past? It would sound better if we could say that you regularly babysit."
Some agencies suggested that it was really the parents' job to check out references and not "to worry to much because most parents are pretty trusting." I had to bite my tongue - I wanted to say, "So why are you charging them then?" My references or lack of them were really the key factor in determining whether an agency was doing their job. Many of them were quite happy to take a family member as a reference which is totally unacceptable.
Some agencies glossed over my details and seemed more interested in finding out which other agencies in their area I had called. They would proceed to tell my why the others were no good and that I should go with their agency - no mention of lack of experience etc. They were far more interested in grabbing business.
One agency owner I spoke to astounded me. I said, "I don't have any childcare qualifications like the NNEB or anything." She interrupted by saying "What is the NNEB - what does that mean? I've never heard of it." It made me want to weep.
I found there was a wide gap between the agencies that came up to standard and those that did not. It was not a difficult task separating the two. At the outset we wanted to be totally objective and fair and were concerned what we would do if an agency was borderline in the testing process - would they make the list? It was not an issue; it became clear from the outset who was interested in finding out about 'Helen' and how suitable she would be to work with children, and those who were more interested in quick placement.
The Nanny Test:
During the nanny test Helen who has very little experience and difficulty getting hold of references tries to find out, over the phone, if the agency will take her on.
To pass the agency has to: insist on meeting her in person, must demand two references, must refuse to allow her a sole charge nanny position (some may suggest a mother's help position) and must not allow her to start in any position until her references have been chased up.
In each case the tester uses her experience to asses the answers and determine those who pass.
Au Pair Agencies:
Au Pair Agencies operate very differently from nanny agencies. When you are looking for an au pair the agency acts more as an introductory service - some agencies offer reference checking by agents abroad but this is often more common when hiring French and Spanish Au Pairs. Parents should always assume that the responsibility for hiring and au pair and checking references lies with them although your agency should offer support and provide advice.
The Au Pair Test
Many people tend to lump nannies and au pairs into the same category but au pairs are not nanny-substitutes, and usually have no formal childcare training. We devised another simple test for agencies dealing in au pairs; R.E.C (Recruitment and Employment Confederation) stipulates that au pairs should never have sole charge of children under the age of three. Posing as mothers we called and asked if they would place an au pair in sole charge of our two-year-old children. Sadly a large proportion of agencies were more than happy to do so.
Disappearing Agencies
One of the biggest problems is that it is so easy to set up a nanny agency. Because there are no strict regulations dozens of new agencies spring up every year, but without an increase of business to go round many go bust, shutting up shop just as quickly as they opened, often disappearing without trace. Roughly 50% percent of the agencies numbers we rang were repeatedly unavailable, did not answer or the line was dead. Nobody wants to deal with fly-by-night agencies who take your money and then, when there are problems, you find that they simply don't exist any more. Many agencies had answer machines stating the office was closed for several weeks and offered no emergency contact. Where does that leave parents who have paid their money or girls in trouble?
Trading on Reputation
One agency I contacted used to have an excellent reputation - I found out that the agency had changed hands and rather than being run from an office with several experienced staff, was now being run from a bed-sit by a girl who had given up nannying a few months before. She had kept the name and was still charging the same fees. I really felt parents signing on with her were being ripped off.
What happens when an agency passes the Best Bear Test?
When an agency passes they are invited to advertise their details on the Best Bear site.
The Gulf Between Good and Bad.
Personally, as someone who has worked as a nanny, I found the exercise - exhausting, but incredibly enlightening. The thing that struck me most was the vast discrepancy in the kind of service that was on offer from agencies. As 'Helen Taylor' I would be thoroughly grilled by some agencies who were willing to take time and effort to see me and check out every facet of my personality and suitability. Others, however, would be happy to get me 'out there' in minutes of picking up the phone to them - yet both agencies would be charging the same fee at the end of the day. That made me very angry.
I feel that it is so unfair for some of these agencies to be charging top whack and really not doing their job while others agencies go to real lengths too ensure the best for parents and ultimately the children. The agencies who came through the test deserved to - but at the end of the day they were only doing their job.
What Good Agencies Do
As you can imagine many of the calls I made were depressing. No real interest in references or background or ability to care for children. However the agencies who were doing their job properly stood out like shining beacons. Against the background of sloppy practice it was a delight to call an agency who would then proceed to spend thirty minutes grilling me about my experiences. They wanted to know why I thought I would be suitable to care for young children, explained why my sister was not an acceptable reference, quizzed me on what had I been doing since I left school and what I did while I was travelling and asked if I was in a stable relationship.
Before sending girls out on an interview good agencies should:
- always interview the nanny in person - not just over the telephone for at least an hour.
- check birth certificate, passport, driving license - original, not a copy
- always ask for at least two references
- ask about qualifications and First Aid - check originals of certificates
- ask about any gaps in a childcarer's CV and make them account for them
- ask for a police check, if possible through the Criminal Records Bureau
- find out where the childcarer is living and their current circumstances
- ask what experience the childcarer has. How do they care for and stimulate children in their care
Good agencies were concerned about me from a personal point of view and about my suitability to care for children. They would never suggest sole charge of children with my lack of experience. Many suggested that I should go back to college and went as far as to suggest coming for a chat so they could advise me on the courses and colleges available in the area. Music to my ears!
The Testing Continues
Now we've revealed how we've done it - does the testing stop here? Certainly not. Our lists will constantly change and we hope to be able to add more brilliant agencies for you to use as we find them. We also want childcarers and parents to add to our research by emailing us with their good and bad experiences.
I know a great agency but its not on www.bestbear.co.uk
It may be the case that we have invited them to join and they have declined or we may not have tested them yet.
Good luck in your search for childcare and remember to always check for yourself - it's the only way to be totally sure. |