Choosing childcare Nanny vs Nursery

Deciding on which kind of childcare you will choose can be a daunting decision. What are the pros and cons of each option and which kind of care will suit you best?

Below are some thoughts that will help you consider the options of choosing a Nanny or nursery.

Good luck with your decision making?
Convenience
Nanny pros: A Nanny will come to your home and work outside the usual hours that a nursery opens.
This means no packing bags in the mornings and travelling to nursery before your workday starts.
You can also enjoy returning straight home from work to your child who is fed and settled ready for bed, if this is what you would like.

If your child becomes unwell at nursery school or school, your Nanny will be available to collect your child for you, with limited delay.

Nanny cons: When your Nanny calls in sick or takes annual leave you will need to find your own alternative childcare, often at short notice. This can cause problems if the Nanny requires long-term sick leave or maternity leave.

Nursery pros: A nursery is typically open 50 to 52 weeks per year, at consistent hours. You can rely on the nursery to provide a consistent and reliable service.

Nursery cons: You will have the added daily preparation, packing and commute on top of your career demands. Often nurseries ask you to provide bottles, nappies etc.
If your child becomes unwell at nursery you will need to leave work to collect your child.
Accountability

Nanny pros:
You can enjoy a personal relationship with your Nanny, which is based upon trust and regular communication.
You can make arrangements to have surveillance in your home, for peace of mind (we recommend you do this with the Nannies knowledge).

Nanny cons:
In most cases a Nanny will have no accountability. They will have sole charge of children and spend large amounts of time in the family home with children unsupervised.
In America they have a system like our ‘How am I driving’ signs. A sign is attached to the child’s buggy asking – good Nanny? With a phone number for members of the public to report any concerns.

Nursery pros:
As nurseries employ teams that work together there is a high level of accountability.
The Management Team within a nursery should be holding the staff team accountable with good staff management systems. Hopefully if a staff member provides unsuitable care a colleague will report them.

Nursery cons:
Just because children in nurseries are being cared for by a team rather than an individual, this does not guarantee that children are receiving the care that you require. Often a team working in a room have a culture and colleagues can support bad practice as well as good practice.
In addition to this the management team are often struggling to keep up with the paper work responsibilities, leaving the staff team working largely unchecked.

Quality of care
Nanny pros:
You have complete control over the childcare provider chosen to care for your child.
You set the requirements and establish the job description.
The care provided will be in the child’s own home with personal focused attention.
If the family has only one child the child will enjoy 1 to 1 attention.
Nannies enjoy a role that is flexible and facilitates responding to the needs of the child.
If the child becomes fractious in the house the Nanny can decide to take the child on an outing, without having to consider the needs of any other children.
You can have control over your child’s diet, as you will have done the food shopping and can give clear guidance to your Nanny.

Nanny cons:
There are no governing bodies controlling the standards of Nanny provision.
It is difficult for a Nanny to develop professionally with little motivation to do so.
Once qualified a Nanny has limited access to expensive further training or qualifications.
It is also difficult to release Nannies from their daily jobs to attend training.
Being a Nanny can be a lonely job, as a Nanny works alone loneliness can impact their professional performance.
Nannies do not have any on going requirements to meet; the care is then subject to the Nannies training and ethos.

Nursery pros:
The government has invested a lot of resources into raising the standards of nursery care.
Every term nurseries receive a list of training courses provided by their local authority, designed to meet the training needs of the nurseries within their area. These courses are either free or heavily subsidised, along with subsidies for arranging cover staff. In addition to training, further qualifications are supported with heavy subsidies often from 80% to 100% of the course fees for nursery employees.
Nurseries have regular staff meetings providing ongoing in house professional development.

The government have provided a curriculum that all nurseries are required to follow. Nurseries are required to provide evidence that every child is receiving the care and education set out in the curriculum.

Nursery cons: Nurseries comply with child to adult ratios.
Children aged 0-2 yrs = 1 adult to 3 children
Children aged 2-3 years = 1 adult to 4 children
Children aged 3 years + = 1 adult to 8 children

Often staff are taken up with cleaning, organising and paper work, so these ratios do not reflect the level of contact children constantly receive.
Because nurseries are legally required to meet the adult to child ratio’s the Management Team can feel forced into employing staff that that do not meet their expectations, this can lead to a poor performing staff team.
The care can be impersonal and feel institutionalised.
You will have little control over your child’s diet, and sometimes the children are not given what the menu states.

Continuity of careNanny pros:
A committed Nanny may stay with you for years.
Often Nannies maintain contact beyond their employment.

Nanny cons:
If your Nanny hands in notice to terminate employment, it could have a devastating effect on the children, coming to terms with saying goodbye and getting to know a new Nanny.
You will also face the pressure of finding a replacement.

Nursery pros:
Regardless of staff turnover there will always be a team of childcare professionals available to care for your children.
Nurseries implement a key worker system, this means that although there are a number of carers in the setting one staff member will take special responsibility for your child’s needs.

Nursery cons:
If a nursery has a high turnover of staff or high level of staff sickness, the continuity of care will be compromised.
A variety of new, cover and agency staff can be disruptive for children.

Relationship Nanny pros:
As the Nanny works in your home caring just for your children, hopefully you will enjoy loyalty, with a real commitment to you and your children.

Nanny cons:
The relationship can become too personal and emotional. You may find approaching any problems with your Nanny very difficult.
The boundaries between professional and personal can get confused.

Nursery pros:
The relationship with a nursery will be professional. The nursery should have a policy setting out their approach to parent/carer partnership. You can ask to read this policy, along with all their other policies.

Nursery cons:
You may feel that you are just another parent/client and find that the relationship is impersonal.

Cost Nanny pros: If you have more than one child a Nanny could work out less expensive. You can negotiate on the salary and what services will be included.
The Nanny will sometimes provide domestic duties in your home, which is an added bonus.

Nanny cons:
If you only have one child you may find a nursery more competitive. As an employer of a Nanny you are legally responsible for the tax, National Insurance, annual leave, sick pay etc. This can all add up and prove to be quite a responsibility.

Nursery Pros:
Contrasting to Nannies if you have more than one child a nursery can be expensive. However you have no employee responsibilities, so no additional costs or responsibilities. Nursery care is funded by the Nursery Education Grant (NEG); this funding starts from the beginning of the term following your child’s third birthday. You do not need to do anything to claim this, the nursery will deduct this from your invoice.

Nursery cons: If you have more than one child the cost can really mount up. You could be alarmed at short notice by a letter informing you that a nursery is putting up its fees. You will have little say or opportunity to negotiate.

To summarise Nanny care:
Can be personal and homely, while unaccountable.
Nursery care: Can be less homely but accountable.
I do empathise with any parent trying to decide which childcare to choose. It is probably one of the most important decisions you will ever make. I have worked in childcare for over 16 years seeing many children happily enjoying the childcare that their parents have chosen.

May I make one further childcare suggestion, that of a registered Childminder who could offer a combination of the best of both the Nanny and nursery.The care is homely, but all the professional support that nurseries benefit from are available to Childminders. A Childminder does not need to be qualified, but they will be required to attend training and undergo an Ofsted inspection before registration.They will be inspected by Oftsed regularly (usually every 2-3 years). Childminders are required to meet a variety of care and educational requirements and provide evidence of this in the same way that Nurseries are.Please remember after all the research and questioning, trust your instincts and if you find you are dissatisfied with the childcare option you have chosen, you can change your childcare. With support, children can be very adaptable to change.