Selecting an At Home Childcarer
- Think about what is important to you and your family, before you contact home childcarers - what matters to you and what does your child need?
- Consider each childcarer’s qualifications and how well they match your childcare needs - those with a Playwork qualification are often experienced with older children, while an Early Years qualification may indicate more specific training around the needs of younger children and babies.
- We suggest that you plan a short settling-in session, or a series of them before leaving your child with a new person
How much does a childcarer cost?
Home Childcarers may be self employed or be employed by the family, depending on individual circumstances.
For further guidance on your circumstances for employment purposes, please go to Employing someone to work in your home
As you would expect with other professional childcare, you should discuss other cost issues such as deposits, notice payments and expenses with the childcarer before they start working with you.
If a Home Childcarer is registered with Ofsted, parents may be able to claim Universal Credit or Tax Free Childcare.
Coming to an agreement - some hints and tips on getting the relationship right
It is the responsibility of the childcarer and the parent/carer to come to an agreement about their needs and how childcare will be provided.
It is recommended that you use a written agreement; as well as covering many practical details, the agreement should also cover discussing and planning activities, boundaries and preferences.
Is your arrangement for childcare (including childcare related duties such as feeding and tidying) or does it also include any general household duties?
Have you considered agreeing a probationary period and a review date to discuss how things are going and if any changes need to be made. (Refer back to your initial discussions – are boundaries being followed ?, is enough time allocated for certain plans ?, and so on.)