Home based childcare
Information about types of home-based childcare, and how to build a relationship with your home childcarer.
About home based childcare
There are many reasons parents might want to use a childcarer who comes to the family home, such as:
- you work unusual hours, such as shift working, or evenings and weekends
- you have a young baby or child with special needs and prefer them being at home
- you have several children needing childcare
Types of home-based childcare
Home Childcarers
You can find details about some Home Childcarers on the Childcare Directory.
Home Childcarers are:
- registered with Ofsted
- DBS checked and insured
- qualified in First Aid
Nanny
A nanny can be anyone who looks after children in their home, whether live-in or live-out; full-time or part-time and qualified/Ofsted registered or not.
It is important that parents check the nanny's suitability for the role if they directly employ the nanny themselves. If not, an agency can do this but they will charge a fee.
Sometimes a family ‘share’ their nanny with another family.
This works by either hiring the nanny for opposite ends of the week or by contributing to the nanny’s fees together and having their children cared for at the same time.
Au pair
An au pair is a young person who is provided with a place to live within the family home and study time, in return for part-time childcare duties.
You should speak to an agency if you are interested in using an au pair. Au pairs often work best for a family with older children, rather than babies and under 5’s.
Babysitter
Traditionally a local young person who comes to your home to supervise the evening and bedtime routine and enable parents to leave the home for a few hours.
Some babysitting agencies provide older babysitters and a qualified childcarer could also ‘babysit’ if available, so there can be a range of options.
Personal Assistant (PA)
A Personal Assistant helps a person or family to maintain their routine, go about daily activities and act as a companion and helper.
As with a babysitter, this person is not necessarily qualified in childcare or registered with Ofsted.
To find a Personal Assistant, visit the Possability People website and see their PA noticeboard.
Childcare staff
You can ask at your child’s setting, (daycare settings, childminders, out of school clubs and schools) as there are sometimes staff already known to your child, who may be able to provide additional childcare hours.
There is no source of free home based childcare
Many parents looking for this, rely on informal offers of childcare from family, friends or neighbours, whom they trust.
Ofsted registration
Find out more about Ofsted registration including different types of Ofsted registration, the Voluntary register for home childcarers, and contact details for Ofsted
There are two main benefits of Ofsted registration for parents.
Quality of care
You can be sure that a childcarer has been police checked and required to complete an application process which usually involves a relevant qualification, first-aid training and holding a public liability insurance policy.
Financial support
To receive tax credits towards the cost of childcare, and with other government funding, the childcarer must provide parents with their Ofsted registration number.
Building a relationship with a home childcarer
You can find advice and things to think about when arranging childcare in your home on our Building a relationship with a home childcarer page