Twelve questions to ask before a nanny or driver starts in your home
Most trouble in a home role is visible in the first conversation, if the right things are asked and written down. These are the questions worth your half hour.
Six questions for the person
1. What is your full name as it appears on your identification, and what name do people call you?
2. Where do you live now, and who else lives there with you?
3. Where did you work last, what were you doing, and why did you leave?
4. Who can speak for you, and how do they know you?
5. What part of this work do you not want to do?
6. What would you do if the child fell ill, or the gas finished, and nobody answered the phone?
The last two matter as much as the first four. One tells you where the friction will be, the other tells you how the person thinks when nobody is directing them.
Six questions for the agent, if one is involved
1. What is your own full name, and where is your office?
2. What exactly did you check on this person, and what did you see with your own eyes?
3. May I keep a copy of their identification and their guarantor details?
4. How long have you worked with this person, and how many homes have they been placed in?
5. What is the fee, and what does it cover if the placement ends in the first month?
6. May I speak to the worker alone before deciding?
An agent who will not let you speak to the worker alone, or who cannot say what they actually checked, has told you something useful.
Write it down while they are still sitting there
Full name as registered, date of birth, phone number they answer on, current address with landmarks, the last workplace and a contact there, and two guarantors with numbers. Everything you check later is built on these, and a mistyped digit is the single most common reason a check fails to confirm.
Answers worth a second look
A gap of a year or more they do not want to explain. A previous employer who cannot be named at all. A guarantor who turns out to be the agent. An address given only as an area. None of these means no. Each one means ask again, and confirm it before the person moves in.
Then confirm it on paper
A good conversation is not a check. Confirm the identity against the register, send an agent to the home address, and reach at least one guarantor and the last workplace. For a live-in role, do all four.
The worker agrees on their own phone before anything runs, the fast checks answer within 36 hours, and the physical address visit takes 7 to 10 days. Prices are on the pricing page, and the evidence checklist lists what to gather.