Monday 19th Feb 2001

Studio Intro: Every parent has heard about nightmare nannies and many have found to their cost how easy it is to employ the wrong person. Two London mothers were so horrified by the standard of staff sent to them by agencies in the capital they dedcided to do something about it. This report by Ronke Phillips.

Reseacher Helen Taggart poses as a potential nanny with no qualifications, no experience of looking after babies, and no references. Alarmingly and despite her obvious unsuitablility the agency seems willing to take her on. The agency industry places thousands of nannies and au pairs every year - earning themselves huge profits in fees. But many fail to carry out even basic checks on their staff. In a survey of a 1,000 agencies only 30 percent of listed agencies followed the correct guidelines when vetting potential employees. Now an independent company has set up a website, offering parents a guide to the best childcare agencies in the UK.

Eve Tomlinson: A good agency should meet any prospective nannies they want to send out to clients in person, they should thoroughly vet a CV, they should find at least two references and speak to them in person."

Captured on camera: the terrifying cruelty dished out by a nanny in America. Stories of abuse and neglect have also surfaced in the UK. But despite constant demands there are no regulations on setting up a childcare agency and until now no way of checking an agency's credibility.

Tania Fallon: We realised something must be done. There are good guides to schools out there, there are good guides to restaurants but there is no good guide of nanny and child care agencies."

Campaigners would ultimately like to see government intervention. Many suggest agencies should be regulated with a kite mark system. Until that happens Bestbear is the surest safeguard parents have to protect their children from abuse like this.