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Press Release

Voice welcomes CWDC nanny survey

23 October 2009

Voice: the union for education professionals – which represents nannies alongside other childcare and education staff – has welcomed the publication of the nanny survey by The Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) (23 October 2009).

CWDC, in conjunction with Voice: the union for education professionals and NCMA, commissioned the Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) to identify and research issues relevant to nannies, such as training and support needs, in order to promote the professional status of nannying [http://www.cwdcouncil.org.uk/news/1237].

Senior professional officer (Childcare) Tricia Pritchard said: "We are delighted by the publication of the survey. This is the first time there has been research of this kind into nannies.

"We hope that publication of the findings will add weight to our call for a compulsory national register of nannies.

"It is about time that nannies were brought in from the cold and given the professional recognition and status they deserve.

"At there moment there is only a voluntary registration scheme nannies can participate in and we do not believe that many nannies have joined it and there is little evidence to suggest that it is valued by parents.

"If there can be a compulsory register of parents who educate at home, why not one for childcarers who care for children in the home?

"Even other early years and health care professionals often do not regard nannies as fellow professionals.

"A single UK national register for all working with children and young people would be much simpler and more effective than the current complicated, confusing plethora of compulsory and voluntary childcare registers. Unless a register is compulsory it can’t be fully effective as not everyone will join.

"Compulsory registration and regulation would raise the status of professional trained nannies and help to protect them from exploitation and working excessive hours. I hope that the publication of this survey will be a major step towards that."



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Voice: the union for education professionals

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