Sandra (43) Childminder in Leek

"Membership registration is always free, with no obligations. You can use your free Basic account to browse all of the profiles for registered childcare providers in your area, and send free replies to get to know more about the sitters who message you.

If you want to be able to start conversations, however, you’ll need a Premium subscription:

1 month: €19,95
3 months: €38,85 (€12,95 per month)

Please note, your Premium membership will automatically be renewed for the same period of time as you originally signed up for. Remember, you can cancel anytime and still retain access to Sitly’s exclusive Premium features until the end of your current billing period.

Before starting your search, take a little time to figure out what your needs are. Full-time support? Part-time care? On-call help? Make a wish list of necessary and preferred characteristics so you can apply the right filters to our web tool.

We’ll provide you with a list of available sitters near you. Then you can personally screen and vet promising candidates by asking for references and organizing an official interview. If you find a babysitter or nanny who meets your requirements, set up a Premium Sitly account to get in touch with them right away. Or, you can take things slow and wait for interested childcare providers to message you first.

First things first – message the prospective babysitter or nanny about any past childcare experience they may have, and ask about references from prior families. Then you can check in with the other parents to see what their impression was of the sitter.

Next, come up with a list of questions that will help you determine if the sitter will be a good match for your family’s needs. Review our 10-Step Guide for Parents for examples of questions to ask candidates during a babysitting interview. Finally, when you’re ready, schedule a convenient time to get together in person for a one-on-one.

There is no standard hourly rate for childcare services. Rather, each nanny or babysitter’s rate is determined by several factors – including their age and level of experience, the number of kids who need looking after, and how far they need to travel for the job.

In order to come up with an appropriate rate, you should first take into account the minimum wage for your area. Then, you might consider offering a higher rate of pay to keep things fair if you’re asking for any help with things like tutoring or chores around the house - or if you know your kids can be a handful for even the most patient of sitters!

Sitly lets you expand your sitter search to find independent childcare solutions in your neighbourhood – including babysitters, nannies, and childminders. But given all these options, choosing the right solution for your family’s needs requires weighing the pros and cons carefully.

Keep in mind that nannies often work a set schedule and provide dependable assistance with more demanding tasks – while babysitters are typically scheduled as needed, and focus their energy on keeping kids safely entertained. A home daycare centre might give you the best of both worlds, but you’ll need to pay extra attention to other important factors like location, flexibility, and cost.

We do not perform background checks or screen new members because we are not a job or babysitting agency. Rather, think of Sitly as a neighbourhood hub where parents and independent childcare providers - including babysitters and childminders - can find and connect with each other. As an inclusive community, Sitly’s equitable access ensures that finding the right person for the job - or the right job for the person - remains fast and flexible for everyone.

That means screening is in the hands of our members. Parents, babysitters, and childminders can vet each other based on their own priorities and preferences. Beyond exercising common sense when it comes to sharing personal details, we suggest you carefully review provided references and plan an official interview before making any final decisions. When you’ve found the perfect match, you’ll be glad you took the time to make sure everything was in order.

Whether you’re online or in the real world, your safety is important to us. So, if you receive any inappropriate messages or mistreatment, be sure to file a report with our team so we can check it out. Remember, all reports are private and investigated seriously by Sitly’s staff. In addition, we perform manual checks on a routine basis and follow up on system alerts that notify us when anything out of the ordinary happens on our secure platform.