Families North. March 2001

THROUGH THE AGENCIES OF BEST BEAR: A MOVE TO IMPROVE

Nobody can afford to make a mistake with childcare. If you hire a bad plumber he may end up flooding your house, but if you hire a bad nanny the consequences are unthinkable.

The biggest problem facing families in their search to find childcare at home is not knowing who to trust in terms of agencies and recommendations. Choosing a childcare agency has often been down to potluck; parents and childcarers can look through the Yellow Pages, The Lady, local magazines, or internet sites which give listing-style information, but not a clue about the calibre of the agency.

Over the years there has been a swathe of stories in the press about bad nannies and shoddy agency practices which have left parents feeling nervous. It seemed ridiculous to me that there was no system of recommendation to help parents in such an important area. If I wanted to find a good school or even a restaurant there were tons of guides, why wasn't there reliable guide to good childcare agencies?

The motivation to do something about it came from my own experience. While waiting for a nanny to arrive for an interview I called one of her references. Her previous employer was furious that she had been used as a reference. She told me she had sacked the nanny after discovering she had been referring to her two year old as the "little bitch". The woman had also warned the agency she was totally unsuitable to work with young children. I immediately rang the agency who told me she'd 'slipped through the net' which frankly wasn't good enough. I was extremely angry, you don't expect to pay a hefty fee and then discover that a girl's references were never checked or verified.

At the time I was pregnant and juggling a three-year-old and a job as a television producer for Channel 4. Over coffee one day I started talking to a colleague, Eve Tomlinson. She too had suffered bad experiences with nannies sent from sloppy agencies. We thought if we wanted some kind of assurance then there must be thousands of other parents who feel the same way.
We started by speaking to numerous bodies including Trading Standards Officers, childcare charities, Council Under-Eights Officers, educational groups and parenting organisations. Their response in giving parents some kind of recommendation regarding nanny agencies was the same: "We'd love 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. The editor of the Montessori magazine agreed: "This really is an area where parents feel quite powerless. It is a niche in the market that has yet to be filled."

During our research we were alarmed by what one trading standards officer told us. We asked, as parents, 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? The officer 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 did have 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 were not in a position to act. The officer admitted they did have complaints about various agencies but they could not pass the information on.

The St Nicholas Charity (which is affiliated with Montessori Nurseries) commented that it seemed "a shame that there are so many safeguards in place at nursery level but it seems impossible to screen nanny agencies." This seems to be the consensus of opinion, mainly because it is such a mammoth task to take on. There are hundreds of agencies and how could you test them all?

THE "HELEN TEST"
Eve and I decided to give up our careers in television to conduct a nationwide survey of nanny agencies. We recruited a top investigative TV journalist, Yasmin Pasha, who had produced various reports which required undercover or secret filming for London Tonight. She has a particular interest in shoddy nanny agency practices and has produced 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" - a set series of questions and tests carefully designed to spot which agencies were thorough in vetting the girls they sent out. The ones who passed were then invited to join bestbear.co.uk.
As a trained NNEB nanny Helen has been interviewed and placed by many agencies over the years. Posing as a girl with next to no qualifications or experiences, and no verifiable references she set out to contact hundreds of agencies. The experience in some cases was fantastically reassuring and in other cases deeply disturbing

SHOCKING FINDINGS
Our first real shock was the fact that so many agencies were more than willing to send "Helen" out on interviews with prospective families almost immediately, having simply taken the information she gave them at face value and never meeting her in person. They seemed happy to send a total stranger to someone's home and make them pay for the privilege.

We were astonished that after a 10-minute conversation (or less) some agencies were happy to send a girl with no readily available references or real experience to potentially care for young children. Several agencies even suggested placing her in sole charge of babies and one agency wanted to place her in sole charge of 18-month-old twins! To suggest that an inexperienced 20-year-old should care for twins of that age seemed almost criminal.
Other agencies were not worried about the fact that the only reference she had was from a family member - in fact several of them seemed more concerned about "bumping up" her CV to make it sound as if I she was more experienced than she was. One agency asked: "Well, have you done any more baby-sitting in the past? It would sound better if we could say that you regularly babysit."
Another agency we contacted used to have an excellent reputation. We discovered it had since changed hands and instead of 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 only a few months before. She had kept the name and was still charging the same fees.

REFERENCES
"Helen's" references - or lack of them - were really the key factor in determining whether an agency was doing its job. Many were simply too willing to accept a family member as a reference which is obviously quite unacceptable.
Some agencies suggested it was really the parents' job to check out references and not "to worry too much because most parents are pretty trusting". It begs the question: What exactly are parents getting in return for paying a fee which can cost from £500 to £2,000?

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.

RESULTS
We have spent over 12 months researching and checking 1,056 nanny and au pair agencies in the United Kingdom. Every week we find and check more. It has proved a mammoth task and is the first piece of research of its kind. Of the agencies we have tested only 30% have made the grade.
One of the biggest problems is that it is too easy to set up a nanny or au pair agency. Because there are no strict regulations dozens of new ones 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. 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. Where does that leave parents who have paid their money or girls in trouble?

WHAT GOOD AGENCIES DO
So what makes a good childcare agency? One that checks references thoroughly, insists on meeting candidates personally and offers good after-placement care. Before sending girls out on an interview they 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 and verify them themselves.
· Ask about qualifications and First Aid - check originals of certificates.
· Ask about any gaps in the candidate's CV and make her account for them.
· Ask for a police check.
· Confirm where she is living.
· Ask about experience and how the candidate would care for children in her charge.
Good agencies were concerned about Helen from a personal point of view and about her suitability to care for children. They would never suggest sole charge of children with her assumed lack of experience. Many suggested that she should go back to college.

THE SITE
Armed with our research we put the information on-line at bestbear.co.uk, providing parents with the first researched and quality-controlled guide to childcare agencies across the UK. We have taken the guesswork out so parents can select a childcare or nanny agency with confidence. They will know that the agency comes recommended after objective screening. The website is constantly updated and agencies on the site are monitored. We hope that in time bestbear.co.uk will become synonymous with good childcare, almost like the childcare version of the Egon Ronay restaurant guide.

We are trying to make the whole process as safe as possible so responsible parents get the best possible chance of getting the best possible childcare for their children. As parents we can't do any better than that. Remember to always check for yourself - it's the only way to be totally sure.

Bestbear.co.uk is a user friendly, fun site jam packed with information for parents and childcarers looking for career opportunities. The website gives information to parents as well as childcarers on everything from choosing the right nanny or agency, to interviewing and sorting out taxes.

THE FUTURE
Our aim now is to market good childcare companies and promote good childcare practice both on and off the internet. We are now putting in place a phone line so parents can call and request an information pack on agencies in their area, along with useful information. We also hope to publish a Bestbear Guide To Childcare Agencies later this year.
We will continue to check all our existing agencies and new agencies across the UK. We are constantly updating our testing methods and taking advice on how to make them even more effective. Our lists will constantly change and we hope to be able to add more brilliant agencies as we find them.

Tania Fallon is 33 and lives with her husband and two children, Max, 4, and Isobel, 1, in Clapham, London.