Nursery World - Ofsted's failure to check nannies 'puts children at risk', says REC

Parents are placing too much trust in Ofsted's Voluntary Childcare Register (VCR) when hiring nannies, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) has warned.

REC has accused Ofsted of registering nannies who have inadequate or even false documentation to support their application, and in some cases nannies who do not even have the right to work in the UK.

It highlighted a survey of 1,000 mothers, conducted by REC and Mumsnet, which found that two-thirds of mothers see Ofsted registration for nannies as a stamp of approval, believing that the inspectorate would have verified their ID and eligibility to work in the UK and carried out a Criminal Records Bureau check. Nine out of ten of the mothers think that Ofsted-registered nannies are regularly inspected, whereas Ofsted's own figures indicate that only around 10 per cent of voluntarily registered nannies undergo inspections.

REC has warned that parents could unknowingly be hiring unsuitable nannies and putting their children at risk.

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