British Nannies

What British Nannies does

British Nannies, trading through the legal entity Shifting Paradigms Ltd, is a UK private staffing agency that supplies emergency and temporary nannies to families on an hourly basis. Founded in 2000 by Freya Smith under the original name Hampshire Nannies and now headquartered in Warsash, Hampshire, the company has repositioned to serve the entire United Kingdom, including regulated supply in Scotland under its Care Inspectorate registration (CS2016352722). The service targets households needing short-notice or temporary childcare cover, with pricing starting at £25.00+VAT per hour billed to families and nanny pay set at £13.45-£16.90 gross per hour.

The company's core product is the placement of vetted nannies — DBS-checked, First Aid-certified and employed (rather than gig-contracted) — to families requiring temporary cover, delivered through what the company describes as integrated online matching systems with no proprietary AI/ML disclosed. Operational infrastructure is built around compliance and quality accreditations: Living Wage Employer, Disability Confident Committed and Good Business Charter. The platform architecture is therefore human-mediated matching supported by standard web tooling rather than an algorithmically differentiated technology stack.

British Nannies makes money through two channels. The primary channel is direct B2C placement, where families are billed on an hourly basis for nanny hours supplied. The secondary channel is a B2B2C corporate back-up childcare offering, where the same employed nanny workforce is sold to employer clients as a contracted employee benefit. The company has 51-100 employees, is founder-led, has not raised external funding and has not made any disclosed acquisitions, indicating an organic, profitability-funded operating model since inception.

Name

British Nannies

Legal name

Shifting Paradigms Ltd

Website

https://british-nannies.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

British Nannies is a UK-wide private staffing agency, founded in 2000, that places DBS-checked, employed nannies with families needing emergency or temporary childcare on an hourly basis, with pricing from £25+VAT per hour.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Childcare Staffing Services

NAICS

Child Care Services (62441)

SIC

Services-Child Day Care Services (8351)

akta.pro primary industry

Temporary / Short-Term Nanny (Fill-In) Services (HSAAABAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Nanny Agency / Placement Services (HSAAABAN)

Keywords

• Emergency childcare staffing
• Temporary nanny services
• Back-up care benefits
• In-home nanny placement
• UK nanny agency

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Hourly childcare fees: British Nannies charges families an all-inclusive hourly rate for emergency and temporary nanny care. The rate starts from £25.00 + VAT per hour. The fee covers salary payroll, fully comprehensive insurance, and booking management. Cancellation is free up to 17:00 two days before care. This is the primary revenue stream.
2. Employer back-up care contracts: British Nannies provides back-up childcare as a corporate employee benefit, where employers purchase tokens or contracts enabling their staff to access emergency nanny care. This B2B2C stream complements direct family bookings.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

British Nannies is a UK staffing agency that supplies temporary and emergency in-home nannies to families when their regular childcare arrangements fall through, available 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The company recruits, vets (enhanced DBS/PVG, paediatric first aid, references) and directly employs its nannies on weekly payroll, then matches them to family bookings ranging from 4 hours to several weeks. It also sells back-up childcare as an employee benefit to corporate HR departments under a B2B2C model.

Product overview

British Nannies operates as an emergency and temporary childcare service provider, offering a unified platform of care solutions. The core offerings consist of Emergency Childcare Service (available 365 days a year, 7 days a week), Temporary Nanny Care, and Back-Up Care (offered both as an employee benefit for corporate clients and directly to individuals). The company connects families with DBS-checked, first-aid trained professional nannies who provide in-home care ranging from 4 hours to extended periods. Additionally, British Nannies recruits childcare professionals through its employment platform, offering flexible hours, weekly payroll, and employed positions. The services are unified under a single brand that evolved from the original Hampshire Nannies, with operations spanning across the UK including Scotland where they are Care Inspectorate approved.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Nannies can be matched to families within minutes via online systems
• +3 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Nannies Incorporated: UK nanny placement and staffing agency providing vetted nannies for temporary and permanent roles. Directly comparable as a UK nanny agency serving similar family customers.
• Bubble: UK app-based platform for booking babysitters and nannies on demand. Competes directly with British Nannies' emergency/temporary childcare offering, though via a marketplace/tech-led model rather than an employed workforce.
• Koru Kids: London-based nanny and childcare agency offering emergency and regular nanny placements with employed caregiver models. Comparable in target market (UK families needing childcare) and focus on quality-vetted caregivers.
• Childcare.co.uk: UK childcare directory and matching platform connecting families with nannies, babysitters, and childminders. Directly comparable as a UK-wide childcare matching service with similar family customer base.
• Tinies Childcare: UK-wide nanny and domestic staff agency providing temporary, permanent, and emergency childcare placement. Directly comparable to British Nannies in service category, customer base (UK families), and agency-mediated matching model.
• Sitters.co.uk: UK babysitter and nanny booking platform offering vetted caregivers for occasional and regular bookings. Comparable in providing on-demand childcare solutions to UK families, though more sitter-focused than nanny-focused.
• Mynannies: UK nanny agency offering permanent, temporary, and emergency nanny placements. Comparable in service scope (full UK coverage), target market (UK families), and agency-mediated placement model.

Emerging players

• Hometouch: UK platform connecting families with vetted home carers and nannies via a tech-enabled matching model. Comparable in providing qualified, vetted caregivers to UK families, though with a broader home care focus.

Broad incumbents

• Bright Horizons Family Solutions: Large global provider of employer-sponsored childcare, including back-up care programmes. Comparable as a competitor in the B2B back-up childcare benefit space that British Nannies targets via its corporate contracts.
• Sodexo Benefits & Rewards Services: Global employer services company offering family care and concierge benefits including back-up childcare. Comparable in selling employee benefit programmes to corporate HR departments, though as part of a much broader portfolio.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php?id=61579847720268
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/british-nannies
• Instagraminstagram.com/britishnannies

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about British Nannies