Childcare descriptions
We provide the following care, either on a full or part-time basis, as well as for temporary cover:
- Nannies
- Mother's Help
- Au pairs
- Babysitters
- Maternity nurses & night cover
- Nursery Staff
Whatever your situation, we will be happy to discuss with you the type of help you need. We treat every client as an individual and work hard to find you a capable, co-operative and cheerful employee who is able to fit into your family and household.
The following general description of the various childcare options we can offer you will help you choose which solution best fits your needs. The agency's staff will be happy to discuss your family's needs with you further.
Nanny
Nannies provide professional child care, usually within your own home. Nannies are expected to play a role in the social, emotional and intellectual development of your children. The child care package they offer is tailored to your children's needs, but includes responsibility for their general well being, their bedrooms, their clothes and daily activities. Nannies work to develop social and language skills, and are responsible for potty training and teaching manners. With older children, they are responsible for supervising homework and social and recreational activities.
We place both qualified (NNEB, B.Tech and NVQ) and unqualified nannies. Many of those who do not have recognised qualifications have gained experience working with a parent or trained nanny as a mother's help.
Salary: Depending on age, experience and qualifications, you can expect to pay:
- £250 - £300 per week for a live-in nanny;
- Upwards of £350 per week for live-out care.
Mother's Help
A mother's help is a general helping hand around the house with an emphasis on child care.
You can expect a mother's help to carry out nursery duties and light housework, though a mother's help is not a domestic cleaner. They can, should you wish, take full charge of your children. There are no formal qualifications for this role except experience.
Salary: Depending on age and experience, you can expect to pay:
- £150 - £200 per week for a live-in mother's help;
- £200 - £350.00 per week for live-out care.
Part-Time and Temporary Cover for Nannies and Mothers' Help
For families who need part-time or temporary cover, we have nannies and mothers' help available. Rates of pay are hourly or daily.
Au Pair
An au pair is a single person aged 17-27 who comes to the UK from the EU and Eastern Europe to live as part of an English-speaking family in order to improve his/her English and enjoy our culture.
An au pair is not a nanny substitute and may have little experience or formal qualifications in child care. An au pair is there to help you in the home with light housework and caring for your children. They commit themselves to working for between six and twelve months, though summer au pairs are available from June to September.
An au pair works a maximum of 25 hours a week with time off to attend a language school. The working week is usually divided into five hours a day, plus two evenings of babysitting. An au pair has two days a week completely free. In return for their work, the family provides all meals, their own bedroom and pocket money. The au pair covers the cost of travel to and from the UK and school fees.
You should treat your au pair as a member of your extended family. It is always a good idea to start off with agreeing to clear house rules including such things as the use of the telephone, and a timetable of tasks that you expect the au pair to fulfil. We recommend you consider putting these in writing. This avoids any potential unpleasantness and ensures that everyone is happy.
Remember to talk to your au pair. One of the main reasons au pairs come to the UK is to improve their English, so give them every opportunity to communicate and join in with conversations. Having an au pair can be not only a great help, but also an enjoyable experience for the whole family.
- Hours: 25 hours of work a week
- Tasks: childcare and light housework, not heavy domestic duties
- Pocket money: £65 - 85 per week
Au Pair Plus
An au pair plus is very similar to an au pair except that s/he works for more than 25 hours a week in return for extra pocket money. This should be agreed before the au pair takes the position
- Hours: 26 - 35 hours a week
- Suitable tasks: Childcare and light housework, not heavy domestic duties
- Pocket money: £90 - £110 per week
Babysitters
Our babysitting service provides you with dependable and reliable help. Our babysitters are usually nannies, mothers' help or au pairs, adults who have child care experience and can easily work with different families at short notice.
Just as we carefully vet all the child carers we place, you can be assured that our babysitters have been thoroughly vetted and are suitable to care for your children. Baby sitters can be booked during our normal office hours, and are available for work 365 days of the year.
In order to ensure that you can have a relaxing evening free of childcare worries, we always try to provide your children with the same sitter.
Maternity
Our Maternity nurses will either be qualified or have exceptional experience in this field. Your nurse will give encouragement and help with all new born matters, multiple births, Caesarean section, sleep patterns and general routines. As well as giving devoted time to mother and baby, support is also given to partners and older siblings, helping the family smoothly and happily adjust to their new arrival.
Some mothers due to difficult births, caesarean section, family commitments are happy to look after their baby during the day but in the early weeks need where possible an undisturbed nights sleep, our Night Nannies will while you sleep look after and feed baby as required.
Salary: This will depend on experience, and time periods required
Staff selection and vetting procedure
Just as we work with you on a personalized basis to find the full solution to your child care needs, we personally interview everybody who comes to us for work placement, and help each applicant think what type of position suits them best. Au pairs are either interviewed over the telephone or by the agencies we work with overseas.
Our agency follows the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) check list for nanny agencies. All our nanny, mother's help, au pair and babysitting candidates complete an application form, providing us with information on their experience, qualifications employment history, personal details and references. We carefully check the identity of each candidate against passport, driving licence and birth certificate. As a condition of registering with our agency, every candidate must provide us with a police check (Criminal Records Bureau) certificate or undertake to apply for one. We can then provide you with a copy of the certificate or a reference number in those cases where the certificate has not yet been issued.
As part of our interview process we look carefully for initiative, kindness, dependability and pleasantness. Depending on the nature of the position for which they are applying, we clearly explain to all our candidates that they may be required to work eight to ten hours a day, and perform household tasks while at the same time caring for children. The ability to fulfil these tasks satisfactorily can be more important than academic qualifications.
First Aid
Knowing our carers have first aid training gives parents and the carers reassurance to cope and deal with an emergency. At North London Nannies we stress to those candidates with out first aid training its importance and encourage them to enrole on one of our monthly courses.
The course is designed for child care workers, and meets the requirements for Sure Start and the Childcare Approval Scheme, and is therefore suitable for candidates seeking approval. We also welcome parents on the course.
Those students who complete the course and are deemed to have reached the required standard will be issued with a certificate which is currently valid for 3 years. The course will cover the mandatory requirements for the Child Care Approval Scheme:
- Dealing with an emergency
- Child and baby resuscitation
- Chocking
- Anaphylactic shock
- Shock
Our one day course is run on either a Saturday or Sunday with in the local area. The course is run by a qualified teacher and we are happy to arrange additional courses in your own home or hall for groups of parents or organisations involved in childcare.
