Nursery World - Vetting and barring scheme leaves 'dangerous' loophole open to nannies

Omitting nannies from a new Government database for all those working with children leaves 'a dangerous loophole' that compromises children's safety, the payroll service Nannytax has warned.

Nannytax, which supports parents and nannies, has launched a campaign to include nannies in the Vetting and Barring Scheme over fears that otherwise, paedophiles would be able to exploit the system. It has set up a petition on the Number 10 website.

Asa Nilsdotter of Nannytax said, 'Once the VBS is in place, nanny positions will be the only opportunity for an individual to come into direct contact with children without having to have a police check.

'It could potentially be quite dangerous. Anybody can apply to be a nanny. In the economic crisis more and more people are finding nannies themselves through websites like Gumtree. This makes it more and more of a concern.'

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