How to Start a Nanny Agency: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2026

Starting a nanny agency is one of the most rewarding small businesses you can build: you connect great carers with families who need them, and you earn a fee for the match and the ongoing coordination. But the agencies that thrive are the ones that get the operational basics right from day one. Here is how to do it.

1. Decide on your model

There are two common models, and most successful agencies do both:

• Placements — you introduce a nanny to a family for an ongoing role and charge a placement fee.
• Bookings — you fill one-off or recurring care (after-school, date nights, holiday cover) and take a margin on each booking.

Running both from one candidate pool means a nanny who isn't placed permanently can still earn through short-term bookings — and you earn from both. Software built for nanny agencies should handle placements and bookings side by side.

2. Get registered and insured

Before you take a penny, sort the legal foundations:

• Register your business and understand your local employment and agency regulations.
• Take out professional indemnity and public liability insurance.
• Write clear terms of business for both families and nannies.

3. Build a rigorous vetting process

Trust is your entire product. Families are handing you their children — your reputation lives or dies on vetting. At a minimum:

• Identity and right-to-work checks
• Background checks (DBS in the UK, or a provider like Checkr) — and a system to re-run them on a schedule
• First-aid and childcare qualifications
• References from previous families

The hard part isn't running these once — it's keeping them current across a growing roster. Look for a system that stores every document and alerts you before anything expires. (We wrote a separate guide on background checks for care workers.)

4. Set your rates and fees

Decide your hourly rates, any premiums (evenings, weekends, bank holidays), and your agency margin or placement fee. Build these into a rate card so every quote and invoice is consistent — and so multi-child bookings price correctly without manual maths.

5. Choose the right software early

Most new agencies start in a spreadsheet and a group chat. It works — until it doesn't. The moment you have a dozen nannies and twenty families, you'll spend your evenings reconciling who worked when and chasing invoices.

A purpose-built platform replaces all of that. The features that matter most for a nanny agency are:

• Scheduling and recurring bookings so weekly care generates itself
• Shift-fill broadcast so a last-minute cancellation goes out to all available nannies and the first to accept is assigned automatically
• Document and background-check tracking with expiry alerts
• Invoicing and online payments so families pay without you chasing
• A family portal so parents can request care and see who's booked

6. Win your first families

• List on local directories and parenting groups.
• Ask early families for reviews — social proof converts.
• Put an enquiry form on your own website so leads flow straight into your pipeline.

7. Deliver, then systematise

Once the bookings are flowing, the difference between a stressful agency and a profitable one is systems: verified attendance, automatic invoicing, and accurate nanny pay. Get those running on autopilot and you can grow without drowning in admin.

Ready to run your agency properly? Rostavo gives nanny agencies booking, scheduling, vetting, invoicing and payments in one place. Start free — no card required.