Nannies typically work for one family at a time, so have only one employer. Some nannies may work for two families at the same time (a nannyshare) or two different families on different days of the week (two separate nanny jobs). A nanny therefore has one, or maybe two employers.
In many occupations there is an expectation that people do CPD – Continuing Professional Development. Ongoing training to enable them to keep up with latest developments and to renew existing skills.
Nannies are no different in this respect, as over time there can be changes to knowledge about child development, ways to help children learn, spotting when children may need extra help, changes to child protection procedures and renewing training in Paediatric First Aid.
Paediatric First Aid is probably the most common thing that nannies know needs repeated training. In the UK a First Aid certificate is valid for 3 years, at which point a refresher course needs to be done.
If a nanny in England is registered with Ofsted, then the childcare regulator requires that First Aid training is repeated every 3 years and that a valid certificate is held at all times that childcare is provided. Therefore a nanny may well repeat First Aid training every 2.5 years or so, depending on when they can attend a training course prior to expiry of their existing first aid certificate.
First Aid training in the UK can be quite costly. In my area (Surrey) a Paediatric First Aid course which includes practical exercise is 12 hours long and costs around £95+VAT. Registered Childminders have to do that long a course, nannies however can do a shorter course as long as it meets the criteria for registration – which can be found in Appendix A of Ofsted Guide to Registration.
Who should pay for this training?
In other jobs, training may be provided as part of the job. Nannying is different and some parents may well contribute towards ongoing training, whilst others will not. I feel that nannies need to consider what they need to be doing to make themselves employable. If a nanny does not update their training then when they next apply for a job, will their new employer consider them for the job? Or would a new employer consider someone who already had the training?
As a nanny I pay for all my own training, I do not expect my employer to pay that cost in addition to my salary. Maybe I am wrong to think that it is my responsibility to keep updated with latest developments, but I feel that if I were to ask my employer to pay for training costs, they may well decide to not offer any pay rise in future. I also feel it is unfair on them to have this added cost which they will not have allocated any budget. Not all employers of nannies are rich with multi-million pound homes. Many employers of nannies are just parents trying to make ends meet, working long hours and doing quite highly paid jobs but also having quite high mortgages and outgoings.
What do you think – who should pay for training?
Hi Nick,
Another interesting post on your blog. I am a nanny and I paid for all my training myself. I think that a nanny should pay for her training, however if the family wants the nanny to do a certain training course for example if the child has allergies etc. then the family should pay for it.
Many nannies have training in their profession too (for example a degree) and they paid for it themselves too. Every qualification makes the nanny more employable and therefore profits from the training herself not just her employer.