Mum's mission to create 'babysitting Uber'

Monday 12 March 2018

A local mum on a mission to “revolutionise” childcare has launched an Uber-style app for parents to find carers, nannies and babysitters at the touch of a button.

When Kay Pearson came to Jersey, she realised that finding babysitters for her two boys – a “lego designer” and a gadget lover now aged five and seven – would be a tough task.

“I have no network on the island so if my husband and I want to go out, we always have to use a babysitter. I was really lucky tHat my first childminder came with three teenage daughters, but they’ve since grown up to do other things,” she told Express.

But after being “sat in the office hearing people saying, ‘Can you have the kids? Do you know a babysitter?’”, the Jersey Business accountant realised she wasn’t alone and set about coming up with a remedy. “I wanted to use tech to transform the world of babysitting,” she said.

The result was ‘Sproglets’ – a dedicated childcare recruitment agency with its very own app.

Through the website and app, parents and guardians are able to make a request for the kind of child care professional they need , and can specify their particular requirements – whether their children have disabilities or special dietary needs, for example.

The request then posted to a virtual notice board, which can be replied to by carers – all of whom are over 18 and have been personally vetted by Kay.

“I have to meet them – that’s part of service. The minimum they need is to be first aid trained, have some kind of safeguarding training and Police checked, and a minimum of two references, whether a character reference or from another family they’ve worked with. Their profiles don’t get approved until we’ve got those minimum criteria.

“For a full-time position, we also have to meet the family. We provide them with the CVs, a list of suitable questions to ask the childcarer because some people have never had one before. We can also attend the interview with the family to handhold them. We provide them with a template employment contract because childcarers working in the family home have to be directly employed by the family… We’re also there for the first month or so to make sure everything’s going ok.”

Families will also have the added reassurance of being able to check their carer’s profile in advance on the app, which displays their photo, a ‘bio’ and a list of their relevant skills and qualifications. “It acts a bit like an ID card,” Kay explained.

But that works both ways – carers will also be able to read the family’s profile beforehand to see if they could be a good match. If things don’t turn out so well, Sproglets is on-hand to act as a “mediator” where necessary.

Sproglets users are charged a booking fee of £12.50, with hourly rates ranging between £8 and £15 depending on the time of day and level of qualification the minder holds. Apart from the booking fee, which is used to cover the cost of Sproglets’ checks on carers, all proceeds go straight to the babysitter. All payment is dealt with through website or app.

Although her day job sees her scrutinise entrepreneurs’ business plans daily, Kay never thought she would become one herself. She thinks her foray into childcare might have been inspired by her teacher parents, as well as her girl guiding and Brownie experience, which inspired the name.

“I wanted something fun so I remembered my days in Brownies when you’re dancing around the toadstool, and you’ve got imps and sprites, and I was thinking my husband calls my children minions – I can’t use that, but I was looking for something quirky and fun that you call a child to give immediately the impression this is all about children.”

Kay’s Brownie days have also now helped Sproglets move into new, unexpected areas.

The company now runs child activity corners at private functions like weddings or dinner parties: “We can go in with giant Jenga, giant Connect Four, look after them. All the parents are on site, but they can relax - the children are having fun and we can keep them contained while the important bits are going on during a wedding. We can also pick them up from events and take them home and babysit… so the adults can carry on partying.”

Then there’s equipment loan service ‘Sproglets Hire’, which was inspired by fellow parents’ Facebook pleas to borrow everything from cots to car seats.

Having launched just some months ago, Sproglets is enjoying good success. They have around 25 registered carers “from Highlands through to experienced nannies” and placed two people in ongoing part-time roles. Kay hopes that the users will continue to grow as the island hits parents evening season and summer, and hopes to drum up interest with Sproglets’ activity corner at the upcoming lifestyle show.