Nursery World - 'Unfit' nannies approved

Loopholes in Ofsted's Voluntary Childcare Register (VCR) mean that the inspectorate is approving nannies with inadequate documentation who in some cases do not even have the right to work in the UK, childcare agencies have warned.

Karen Dixon, the owner of the London Nanny Company and Family Match applied to join the VCR herself in a bid to highlight flaws in the system. She was approved to join the register despite having no childcare qualifications, no first aid training and no nanny insurance.

She then wrote to Christine Gilbert, Ofsted's chief inspector, in December 2008 to explain what she had done. While she received a reply from Ms Gilbert within four weeks, her Ofsted registration was not cancelled until August 2009 and she still has a certificate that says she is an Ofsted-approved nanny.

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