Why every babysitter needs liability insurance.
Safety is paramount at Sittr. Before we can make childcare simpler and more affordable for parents, we want to make it safer. It is a growing trend for parents to favour booking a qualified carer to mind their children over the convenience of the teenage girl who lives on the same street. The future is now and as parents we are more cautious than ever before.
This is why we created Sittr’s vetting process based on four simple principles:
- All carers are over 18 years old
- All carers pass an Identity Check
- All carers hold current Senior First Aid Qualifications
- All carers require a Working With Children Check (or Blue Card if you live in Queensland) which is a government issued background check that supersedes the need for a police check for child care workers.
These vetting standards are similar to those imposed by childcare centres and surpass those imposed by other online babysitting platforms, but it wasn’t quite enough for us. We wanted to go further. That’s where our exclusive Public Liability insurance comes in.
Professional nannies, babysitting agencies and child care centres have carried Public Liability insurance for decades; however, until Sittr was launched, it was not something that online platforms have focussed on and for good reason. It requires thorough vetting of carers and building trust with insurers — something other platforms shy away from because their goal is to sell access to their database and absolve themselves of all responsibility for what happens after the parents and carers connect.
Before Sittr, babysitters that wanted to protect themselves with insurance had to take out their own costly policies. With Sittr, they are automatically covered every time they accept a job through the platform.
Let’s explore why we believe every babysitter should have liability insurance. Kids and accidents can happen. They can happen when parents are present or when under the care of grandparents, a babysitter or a nanny. Accidents are called accidents for a reason — no matter how careful we are they can still happen.
While the severity of an accident ranges from minor to serious, any accident is emotionally traumatic and if a child has suffered any long term injury requiring ongoing medical treatment, this could be expensive. Without public liability insurance, parents are left to either cover these medical expenses or sue the babysitter who was legally liable at the time. If a babysitter or nanny doesn’t have the financial resources to cover these expenses as well as the legal expenses to defend a lawsuit, she/he could be left in significant debt — at least thousands and potentially millions of dollars — depending on what the court awards. This debt could follow a carer for life.
However, if parents book a babysitter or nanny using Sittr, our public liability insurance covers any damages that are awarded as well as the carer’s legal costs for defending herself in court. This is why every babysitter needs public liability insurance.
As a babysitter or nanny, what can you do to ensure you don’t take any unnecessary risks while doing the job you love?
- After meeting a family via Sittr, insist that they make any future bookings using the Sittr website or app to ensure you are fully covered if something goes wrong.
- If you have existing families that you work for, encourage them to start booking you using Sittr. The rates may not be exactly the same as your current arrangement but at least you’ll be covered and you get the added benefits of boosting your profile with reviews and cashless payments.
- If you meet families through other online services or through word of mouth recommendations from friends or family, also encourage them to use Sittr to make a booking so you are covered.
Hopefully this overview of the importance of Public Liability insurance is helpful for understanding the risks involved with being a carer. If you would like more details on our policy or on Sittr in general, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at support@sittr.com.
