Voice renews calls for nanny registration

Friday, 12 June 2009 12:00 AM

Voice: the union for education professionals - which represents nannies alongside other childcare and education staff - has renewed calls for compulsory registration of nannies, following the announcement of a national registration scheme for home educators in England.

Senior Professional Officer (Childcare) Tricia Pritchard said: "There are compulsory Ofsted Early Years and Childcare Registers and plans for a compulsory register of parents who home educate, but only a voluntary registration scheme for nannies.

"If there can be compulsory registration of parents who educate at home, why not of childcarers who care for children in the home? Unless a register is compulsory it can't be fully effective as not everyone will join.

"The home educator register is being introduced - and rightly so - to protect children from possible abuse by their own parents so surely they should be protected from possible abuse or neglect by a non-relative without training or experience calling themselves a 'nanny'.

A single UK national register for all working with children and young people would be much simpler and more effective than the current complicated, confusing plethora of compulsory and voluntary registers springing up piecemeal. The Laming report called for a single system to end confusion. Instead we are seeing even more registers!

"Compulsory registration would also protect and raise the status of professional trained nannies."

ends

Contact: Senior Professional Officer (Childcare) Tricia Pritchard on 01332 372 337 or 07948 710412 or Voice Press Office (pressoffice@voicetheunion.org.uk) on 01332 372 337 or 0794 871 0413.

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