If you are planning to bring your children with you to Britain you will be interested to learn that there are a number of different options available to you should you need to use childcare services in the UK.

People in the UK work some of the longest hours in Europe, with many starting as early as 8 a.m. and not leaving the office until after 6 p.m. With so many couples now choosing to go out to work, added to the increase in single parent families, the growth of the childcare sector in the UK continues to increase each year.

Deciding what suits you and your child will depend on a number of factors that you must consider, the biggest and most obvious being how much money you have to spend on providing childcare services.

The UK has a vast network of Nurseries, Nannies, Babysitting Agencies, Play-groups and Au-Pair services. Many of these are run as private businesses that make up for the shortfall in childcare services provided by the state.

Qualifications

People who work in childcare receive a combination of on-the-job training and external college education, with childcare qualifications range from level 1 – 5, 1 being a junior assistant and 5 being a senior nursery manager.

These qualifications are called NVQ’s and stand for ‘National Vocational Qualifications’ but be aware that these must specifically be in childcare. You can have an NVQ in anything from childcare to road maintenance.

If you are coming to the UK from a country where childcare services are paid for by the government then you are going to have to get used to idea that for the vast majority of British people childcare is not free.

There are some Local Authority (Town Council) services available but these are very over-subscribed and tend to favour single mothers who are attempting to re-enter the employment market after a prolonged absence. Everyone else must make a decision based on the best economical course of action available to them at the time.

Nurseries

Private nurseries are the most common form of childcare for working parents in the UK. They are usually open from very early in the morning until around 6 p.m. at night and are staffed by a mixture of senior qualified staff and junior trainees. Your child will be given breakfast, lunch and early afternoon tea and encouraged to have a short sleep in the afternoon.

The rest of the time will be spent doing activities such as arts and craft, story reading and playing games. Your nursery should provide you with a regularly written report on your child’s social skills and learning progress, and security is taken very seriously with parents normally given a security code that they must give before being allowed entry to the nursery.

You do not need to send you child to nursery every day; you can arrange to use this service anywhere between 1 – 5 days per week.

Find out more in our “Find a…” section.

Nannies

This is the traditional ‘Mary Poppins’ character that cares for you children in your home. They are now more commonly known as ‘childminders’ and must posses a minimum of  a NVQ level 3 in order to work in the UK. Childminders are professionals and do not normally live in your home, unless you come to this arrangement between you. In this sense they are greatly different to an Au-Pair (see below)

If you employ a childminder in the UK you will probably find it easier to use one of the UK’s many agencies. This is because they will take on the responsibility as the childminders employer and send you a bill for the services.

If you chose not to use an agency you will become the childminders legal employer and you must then take responsibility for paying their income tax and national insurance contributions, as well as being eligible for their sick-pay and annual leave entitlement. You will need to know a bit about UK employment law if you chose this route.

Find out more in our “Find a…” section.

Au-Pair

An Au-Pair is usually a foreign student who cares for your children in return for a room, food, pocket money and free English lessons at a local English school.

This is a private arrangement that you can make and there are no qualifications necessary for Au-Pairs coming to stay in with families in the UK. However you should be aware that you are taking on responsibility for a young person who also does not know the UK and has little experience of being professionally employed, so this is a big responsibility that should not be entered into lightly.

Find out more in our “Find a…” section.

Baby-Sitters

There are babysitting agencies in the UK that will provide you with short term temporary childcare. These charge by the hour and are normally used for short term situations such as an afternoon or a night out.

Find out more in our “Find a…” section.

Playgroups

These can be found in places where you might like to go to take a bit of time for yourself, such as shopping centres or health clubs. They are usually open to members who wish to drop their children of for 1 – 2 hours while they relax, shop or exercise.

Find out more in our “Find a…” section.

USEFUL WORDS

nursery = a kind of school for children aged 2-5 years
nanny = someone whose job it is to take care of young children in their home
babysitting agency = a company who send employees to houses to look after babies or children for a short time while their parents are out
playgroup (US: Kindergarten) = a place where children who are below school age go regularly to play together and learn through playing
au pair = a young person who lives with a family in a foreign country in order to learn a language, helps in the house and takes care of children
childminder = a person who is paid to take care of children while their parents are at work.  A childminder usually does this in his or her own home

ENGLISH GRAMMAR

The Agent in Passive Sentences

To mention the agent in a passive sentence, use a phrase with by:
Her children are taken care of by a childminder
The cleaning is done every day by the au pair
Childcare was arranged by the babysitting agency

Here the agents – a childminder, the au pair, the babysitting agency – are the new information we are focussing on.

But often it is not necessary to include the agent in a passive sentence.  Other kinds of information can come at the end of the sentence:
The local playgroup was started in 2005
The new nursery will be based at 55 Cross Street
Children should be looked after properly

Mention the agent only if you need to mention it.  Do not mention it if it is not relevant:
A large number of babysitting agencies have been opened
She was registered as a childminder in 1985
The nursery is cleaned everyday