Need a babysitter? Here’s how Borrow A Village will work

One of the main reasons I started Borrow A Village was because finding childcare can feel unnecessarily difficult. You might only want to go out for dinner for a few hours, have a wedding coming up, need somebody to help after school once a week, or find yourself without the grandparent or friend who would normally step in. The need itself can be quite straightforward, but finding somebody you trust to look after your children often isn't.

Borrow A Village launches in Sheffield and Chesterfield on 1st October, followed shortly after by the Peak District, and over the past few weeks I've been speaking to parents and childcare providers while getting everything ready behind the scenes. One of the things I've been very conscious of throughout is keeping the process as simple as possible for families. I don't want parents to have to spend hours scrolling through profiles, messaging lots of different people and trying to work out who might be suitable. The whole point of Borrow A Village is that you tell us what you need and we help find the right person.

It starts with telling us what you need

When you need childcare, you'll be able to send us a booking request with the practical details, including where you are, the date and times you need someone and the ages of your children. There will also be space to tell us anything else that might be useful when we're finding someone for you.

That might be that you have a baby and would particularly like somebody with plenty of baby experience, that one of your children has additional needs, that you have three children rather than one, or that you'd prefer somebody who drives. It could be something as simple as having a very enthusiastic Labrador and wanting to make sure whoever comes to your house is comfortable with dogs.

These are all things that are useful for us to know. One of the things I've learned from speaking to childcare providers is just how much difference the detail can make to a booking. It isn't simply a case of finding somebody who is free at the right time. We want to find somebody whose experience, availability and preferences make sense for that particular family.

Then we do the searching for you

This is probably the biggest difference between Borrow A Village and the large childcare platforms people may already be familiar with. Rather than giving parents access to a huge directory and asking them to find someone themselves, Borrow A Village is a matching service.

When your request comes in, we'll look at the childcare providers in our village and work out who might be suitable. The people joining us already have a really varied range of backgrounds. I've spoken to nannies, nursery practitioners, teaching assistants, teachers, childminders, support workers and experienced babysitters, some with many years - and in a few cases decades - of experience working with children.

They also have different areas of experience and different preferences about the work they'd like to do. Some particularly enjoy working with babies and younger children, while others have extensive experience supporting children with additional needs. Some are looking for occasional evening and weekend babysitting, while others are interested in regular childcare. Some drive and are happy to travel, and some prefer to stay closer to home.

Having that information means we can make a much more considered match when a parent gets in touch.

You still decide who looks after your children

Although we'll do the searching and matching, parents will always have the final say over who looks after their children. Once we've found a childcare provider who appears to be a good fit and confirmed that they're interested and available, we'll make the introduction and give you the relevant information before the booking goes ahead.

That's important to me because childcare is personal. Somebody can have all the right experience on paper and still not feel like the right fit for your particular family. Borrow A Village is there to make the process easier and narrow down the search, rather than take that decision away from parents.

The same applies to our childcare providers. We want them to have enough information about a booking to decide whether it's right for them too. During my conversations with providers over the past few weeks, I've heard examples of people using other platforms and not being given important information until after they'd accepted a job, or even until they arrived. That's something I really want Borrow A Village to avoid.

The better informed everybody is beforehand, the more comfortable the experience should be for parents, childcare providers and, most importantly, the children themselves.

It isn't only for the occasional night out

When I first had the idea for Borrow A Village, babysitting was probably the most obvious use for it. But the enquiries we've received from parents have already shown how varied families' childcare needs actually are.

We've heard from parents looking for occasional evenings, but also families who need regular after-school help, recurring childcare and more substantial support. Some parents have family nearby but can't always rely on them; others don't have a local support network at all. There are also times when the usual arrangements simply fall through and somebody needs help at relatively short notice.

We're building Borrow A Village to accommodate as much of that as we realistically can. Regular childcare will need a slightly different approach because finding somebody who is going to become part of a family's weekly routine deserves a little more time and discussion, but parents will still be able to come to us with what they need and we'll see whether somebody in our village could be a good match.

We'll also accept last-minute requests. We won't always be able to find someone, particularly while we're still building the service, but several of the childcare providers I've spoken to are happy to consider short-notice bookings. As more providers join us, that should become easier too.

Nearly ready to open the village

Borrow A Village launches in Sheffield and Chesterfield on 1st October, with the Peak District following soon afterwards. There has been a huge amount happening behind the scenes to get us to this point, from meeting and onboarding childcare providers to building the website, booking process and all the less exciting bits that nobody sees.

The most encouraging part has been seeing that the need is there on both sides. Parents have been getting in touch to tell us about the childcare they're struggling to find, while some simply brilliant childcare professionals have put themselves forward to join the village.

We're starting locally and we're starting carefully. I want to know the people joining Borrow A Village and I want families to feel that there is a real person at the other end when they ask us for help.

Because ultimately the idea behind Borrow A Village is still a very simple one: there are families in our communities who could really use some extra support, and there are wonderful local childcare professionals who can provide it.

We just need to help them find each other