HOW TO HIRE · CHILDCARE & FAMILY

How to hire mother's help in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.

No register applies to a mother's help in any UK nation. Here are the checks, your employer duties and what to ask.

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  • One score from Google, Trustpilot and Locufy reviews

THE 60-SECOND VERSION

Hiring mother's help in five steps

  1. Phone the referencesRecent families.
  2. Ask about vettingDBS, PVG or AccessNI.
  3. Work out if you are the employerUsually yes.
  4. Agree dutiesChildren's meals, baths, laundry, outings.
  5. Agree when they are in sole chargeIf ever — and first aid then.

BEFORE YOU BOOK

Check before you book

No register applies

No compulsory register applies to mother's helps in any UK nation. A mother's help works alongside a parent who is at home, so it is not childminding in any nation; in England nannies and similar home carers may choose Ofsted's voluntary register.

Rely on references you phone yourself, photo ID that matches, and the criminal record check the mother's help holds.

Criminal record check — DBS, PVG or AccessNI

England and Wales: childcare can get the enhanced DBS check with barred lists, and Ofsted requires it of a registered mother's help. Scotland: PVG scheme membership. Northern Ireland: an enhanced AccessNI check with the children's barred list, through an Umbrella Body for the self-employed. A parent cannot apply on a carer's behalf.

Ask to see the mother's help's certificate — or proof of PVG membership in Scotland — and read the issue date; a DBS certificate has no official expiry. gov.uk →

You as the employer

gov.uk says you are usually the employer of a mother's help who works in your home when you take them on yourself, rather than through an agency or as a self-employed worker. That means a contract, payslips, at least the National Minimum Wage, employers' liability insurance, registering as an employer and running payroll — and you cannot ask them to become self-employed.

Agree the employment status in writing before the start date, and set up payroll or pay someone to run it. gov.uk →

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Wales: care in the child's own home is not childminding, and a mother's help cannot be paid through the Childcare Offer; CIW's voluntary approval scheme can open other support. Scotland: a mother's help working in the family's home is not a childminder, but a nanny hired by a parent is a regulated role needing PVG scheme membership. Northern Ireland: home childcare need not be registered, but a home childcarer can be approved by the Health and Social Care Trust (aged 18 or over, paediatric first aid, a childcare qualification or induction, criminal record checks), which opens childcare support.

Wales: ask whether they are CIW-approved. Scotland: ask for proof of PVG membership. Northern Ireland: ask whether the Trust has approved them. nidirect.gov.uk →

VAT

Help with children is exempt from VAT only when a state-regulated childcare provider (Ofsted, CIW, the Care Inspectorate or the Northern Ireland Trust), a charity or a public body supplies it; anything else is standard-rated. A self-employed mother's help who is not state-regulated cannot rely on the exemption, but one earning under £90,000 is not VAT-registered and does not charge VAT.

Agree whether the mother's help is your employee, and if they say they are self-employed, ask whether VAT is added. gov.uk →

“Have you worked as a mother's help before?”

A good answer: Families you can phone.

“Which criminal record check do you hold?”

A good answer: Shown with its date.

“Will you ever be left in sole charge?”

A good answer: If so, first aid and experience.

“What household jobs are included?”

A good answer: Children's laundry, tidying, meals — written down.

“Do you have first aid?”

A good answer: Paediatric first aid for sole charge.

“Do you expect to be employed?”

A good answer: A straight answer on payroll.

“What hours suit you?”

A good answer: A regular pattern in writing.

Booking by the hour

  • Gross hourly rate, and the rate for any evening or weekend hours
  • Employer costs if earnings reach the National Insurance and pension thresholds
  • The minimum hours paid per week, and whether a short day is paid in full
  • What the household provides — food, outing money — and what they bring
  • The duties listed before the first hour — playing with the children while you are home, meals, tidying, laundry — with holiday pay and notice in writing
  • ID and right to work checked

Walk away if

  • No references
  • No vetting check
  • Expects sole charge without experience or first aid
  • Cash with no records
  • Unclear duties
  • Refuses a contract

KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR? NOW FIND ONE

Mother's helps near you, with the badges that matter shown

ID checked, trader status and one score from every review — on the card, before you message anyone. Nearest first. No account needed to look.

Or post the job free and let them come to you, or book by the hour.

  1. Define the roleHours and duties.
  2. Interview and trialReferences phoned.
  3. ChecksVetting and right to work.
  4. ContractWritten.
  5. ReviewAfter a month.

Mother's help
A helper working alongside a parent at home.
Sole charge
Looking after children alone.
Gross pay
Before deductions.
Paediatric first aid
First aid for children.
Payroll
Running an employee's tax.
Employers' liability insurance
Insurance an employer must hold.

AFTER

When the job is done

Keep recordsHours, pay, contract.
Review the dutiesAs the baby grows.
Plan for sole chargeIf it becomes part of the role.
Review the bookingTell the next family or client how the mother's help did. Something to fix first? The make-it-right step gives them the chance before your review goes live.

STEP 1Raise it with the mother's help as their employerTalk first, then write down what needs to change and by when. gov.uk expects an employer to discuss a conduct or performance problem informally before anything formal, and to have written disciplinary rules that follow the Acas Code of Practice (the Labour Relations Agency code in Northern Ireland); a mother's help can raise a grievance with you, and may bring a companion to a formal meeting.
STEP 2Use Locufy's make-it-right stepIf you booked the mother's help through Locufy and rate them under four stars, you are asked whether to send it to them first; we follow it through. Then you review.
STEP 3If the mother's help's job endsFollow the notice in the contract: after a month in the job an employee must give at least a week's notice, and dismissing without proper notice is wrongful dismissal, so act fairly and keep records. Final pay includes wages owed and any untaken statutory holiday, even after gross misconduct; give the mother's help a P45 and report the leaving date to HMRC through payroll. The Acas helpline (0300 123 1100) advises employers in England, Scotland and Wales.
STEP 4Booked through an agency, or self-employed?Then you are a customer, not an employer: the agency or the self-employed mother's help is a trader who must use reasonable care and skill under section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. A money claim against them can go to small claims — up to £10,000 in England and Wales, £5,000 under simple procedure in Scotland, £5,000 in Northern Ireland.

Hiring mother's help: questions people ask

No. No register applies in any UK nation.

Usually yes: paying someone directly to work in your home, outside an agency and not self-employed, normally makes you the employer.

Ask for enhanced DBS in England and Wales, PVG in Scotland or AccessNI in Northern Ireland.

No UK publisher prices mother's help as a separate service, so there is no guide figure. Ask two or three mother's helps for their gross hourly rate and the minimum hours they want each week, for the same list of duties, and enter your town above to see who is near you.

Only for approved childcare; a mother's help usually is not.

Follow the contract's terms; a self-employed helper owes reasonable care and skill under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

MORE GUIDES

More hiring guides in childcare & family

How to hire: NannyHow to hire: Part-Time NannyHow to hire: Au PairHow to hire: BabysitterHow to hire: Maternity NurseHow to hire: Night NannyHow to hire: Postnatal DoulaHow to hire: Evening BabysitterAll 701 hiring guides →

Mother's helps near you

Mother's helps in LondonMother's helps in ManchesterMother's helps in BirminghamMother's helps in GlasgowMother's helps in BelfastAll mother's helps on Locufy →

Sources — checked October 2026

  1. gov.uk — become a childminder or nanny (England)
  2. gov.uk — register as a nanny with Ofsted
  3. gov.uk — choose which Ofsted register to join
  4. Ofsted — registration exemptions (England)
  5. Ofsted — check if childcare is registered
  6. gov.wales — get up to 30 hours of childcare for 3 and 4 year olds
  7. gov.uk — registering as a childminder (Scotland)
  8. mygov.scot — the PVG scheme
  9. nidirect — home childcarers
  10. nidirect — AccessNI checks for the self-employed and personal employees
  11. gov.uk — DBS checks: levels and who can request one
  12. gov.uk — employing someone to work in your home
  13. gov.uk — National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
  14. gov.uk — Tax-Free Childcare
  15. nidirect — help paying for approved childcare
  16. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 54 — consumer's rights for services
  17. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
  18. gov.uk — solve a workplace dispute
  19. gov.uk — taking disciplinary action against an employee
  20. gov.uk — dismissing staff (fair, unfair and wrongful dismissal)
  21. gov.uk — dismissing staff: how to dismiss someone
  22. gov.uk — handing in your notice: giving notice
  23. gov.uk — holiday entitlement: taking holiday before leaving a job
  24. gov.uk — what to do when an employee leaves
  25. Welfare services and goods (VAT Notice 701/2) — 2.2.1 Care and protection of children that are exempt; 3.3 State regulated providers
  26. GOV.UK — VAT rates
  27. GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register