When it comes to finding childcare, it's something that many parent's find difficult for a number of reasons. It could be that you've received at least three personal recommendations of amazing placements/minders/sitters, or it could be that you need one that's available with spaces ASAP, or maybe you don't want to enter a contract because your future commitments aren't certain so you need childcare on an ad-hoc basis.
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Maybe your child has SEN or other need's, and you feel like their current school isn't meeting their needs so you need to look for a new school. Or you could be a home-schooler parent like me, and maybe you just need a tutor to come in once a week, where do you start with finding the right people for the right job? After all, our children are our everything, and we need qualified professionals with the right checks to let them near our children.
Thankfully for those of us who need childcare of some sort, there are easy ways to find exactly what we need - all in one place. Childcare.co.uk is a service that I have used a few times, during my search for private home tutors to help on our home education journey. If you're looking for a childminder, a baby sitter, au-pair, school, tutor or nanny, then this is the go-to place that you need to know about.
Childcare.co.uk is the UK's largest online community of parents, childcare providers, household helpers, schools, private tutors and more. Over 2 million people have used their service since they launched in 2009 and they've won lots of prestigious awards. Their service can be accessed from their website and via their iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as their Amazon Alexa skill.
Using the service couldn't be easier, you simply search for what professional you're looking for from the drop-down box, and then you enter your postcode. Once the search results have loaded, you can narrow down your options even more, by filtering the mileage distance, and even the specific types of profession or professional you're looking for.
Once you've narrowed down your search results, you're presented with scroll down list across many pages, with a short bio on each service, along with their prices. You can narrow down your favourites by liking them, and you can view further information by viewing their profile. If you feel like you've found the provider/professional who you're looking for, you can then proceed to message them.
I found the profile section of each user really helpful, as it gave a true insight into what services they offer, and if like me you have a SEN child, then you want to make sure that the person in question has SEN training of some sort, so they're not coming into an unknown situation. I also really liked the fact that I could message providers, as I felt I could explain in detail about my son, letting them know how his needs would need to be met, after all - in these circumstances, we the parents are the employers, finding the right person for a very important job.
Most providers have their prices shown, which I found good, as it saves time further on. I also love how many providers had their availability on show, two features I feel personally saved time. You can search Google for other such services, but there are the backwards and forward questions, such as ''What is your hourly rate?'', or ''Are you available on weekdays'', which in my opinion waste time, that's why I love and rave about childcare so much, because EVERYTHING is there for you, all in one place, with a few clicks of a button.
For a stranger to be near my son, I need someone who's DBS checked to ensure my son's safety, and thankfully Childcare.co.uk even have that covered too. When I first searched for private home tutors in my area, 60 results came up, however, when I narrowed it down to private home tutors with a DBS the list quickly went down from 60 to 38 results.
Talking about safety, I was really impressed to find a safety centre, safety advice and guides on how to check childcare provider documents. Childcare.co.uk do state they have not verified or confirmed the accuracy of any of the information and members should undertake their own rigorous checks and references, but I do think that's quite common knowledge when it comes to our children.
As a blogger, I do look for reviews where possible, as it's what I do for a living, so I was glad to see some reviews and understood that not everyone had a review - but that isn't a bad thing. No one is forced to review products, companies, brands or services, and no reviews don't mean anything bad to me, and would certainly not put me off using a provider/profession.
The site literally covers everything you can think of, you can even see if the professional (if you're looking for a one person service) smokes, so if a smoker is out of the question for you, then you know who to avoid. If for whatever reason, you want to block a provider/professional on the site, you're also given that option which I think is great, although I hope it would never have to be used.
Overall my whole experience with Childcare.co.uk has been brilliant, I found the site very fast and responsive, really easy to navigate and find my way around, with lots of information and advice. The layout of the site is perfect, I couldn't find one fault with the accessibility of the site whatsoever and plan to free up some space on my phone to download their app.
Most providers have their prices shown, which I found good, as it saves time further on. I also love how many providers had their availability on show, two features I feel personally saved time. You can search Google for other such services, but there are the backwards and forward questions, such as ''What is your hourly rate?'', or ''Are you available on weekdays'', which in my opinion waste time, that's why I love and rave about childcare so much, because EVERYTHING is there for you, all in one place, with a few clicks of a button.
For a stranger to be near my son, I need someone who's DBS checked to ensure my son's safety, and thankfully Childcare.co.uk even have that covered too. When I first searched for private home tutors in my area, 60 results came up, however, when I narrowed it down to private home tutors with a DBS the list quickly went down from 60 to 38 results.
Talking about safety, I was really impressed to find a safety centre, safety advice and guides on how to check childcare provider documents. Childcare.co.uk do state they have not verified or confirmed the accuracy of any of the information and members should undertake their own rigorous checks and references, but I do think that's quite common knowledge when it comes to our children.
As a blogger, I do look for reviews where possible, as it's what I do for a living, so I was glad to see some reviews and understood that not everyone had a review - but that isn't a bad thing. No one is forced to review products, companies, brands or services, and no reviews don't mean anything bad to me, and would certainly not put me off using a provider/profession.
The site literally covers everything you can think of, you can even see if the professional (if you're looking for a one person service) smokes, so if a smoker is out of the question for you, then you know who to avoid. If for whatever reason, you want to block a provider/professional on the site, you're also given that option which I think is great, although I hope it would never have to be used.
Overall my whole experience with Childcare.co.uk has been brilliant, I found the site very fast and responsive, really easy to navigate and find my way around, with lots of information and advice. The layout of the site is perfect, I couldn't find one fault with the accessibility of the site whatsoever and plan to free up some space on my phone to download their app.
To view the service or to find out more about Childcare.co.uk, check out their website here.
Until next time,
Jada x
*I was compensated for my time to do this review, however all thoughts and opinions are my own, and haven’t been influenced in any way.
*I was compensated for my time to do this review, however all thoughts and opinions are my own, and haven’t been influenced in any way.
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