Confinement nanny contract checks: the MOM records to read before signing

Two layers of a confinement-care arrangement can be checked against published records before you sign. The first is the agency that arranged your caregiver: MOM's Employment Agency Directory lists licensed agencies, and MOM states that engaging an unlicensed agency is an offence. The second applies only where your caregiver is engaged as a migrant domestic worker, because that is the engagement MOM's Work Permit conditions and employer duties describe. The third layer — what she will actually do in your home each day — is settled in writing, not by a register. ^{[1] [2]}

Our earlier EduNanny guide, Live-in caregiver sleeping space, MOM rest day requirements and a care brief checklist, is worth pairing with this one when your caregiver will live in; the MOM conditions themselves are set out below from MOM's own pages. Keep one further point in proportion. A Straits Times report on the maternal care platform Bosom quotes co-founder Siew Suet Yen saying the lactation consultant title itself is not regulated and that the training behind it can vary enormously. That is her account of her own sector, and it settles nothing about a confinement caregiver. ^[3]

Check the agency and how she is engaged

MOM's Employment Agency Directory is an online service available 24 hours. You can use it to find agencies that match your needs, check their service quality and performance, and shortlist and compare them. Agencies to avoid appear under the "Under revocation / suspension / surveillance" tab. MOM's employer checklist tells you to confirm your agency is licensed there, and notes the directory carries an agency's track record and contact details. Its eight-step hiring guide adds that engaging an unlicensed agency is an offence, and that indicators such as successful retention rate are worth reading. ^{[1] [4] [5]}

If your caregiver is engaged as a migrant domestic worker, MOM's Work Permit conditions follow her: a valid Work Permit, work only for you at the residential address declared to MOM, domestic chores only, and no work for other employers. MOM lists penalties of up to $10,000 for illegally deploying a helper, and fines of $5,000 to $30,000, imprisonment of up to one year, or both, for employing one without a valid Work Permit. MOM's checklist sets her eligibility floor as an approved country of origin, at least 23 years old, and at least eight years of formal education. ^{[2] [4]}

Employment documents, money and worker-held records

MOM's employer checklist advises you to draw up an employment contract with your helper setting out wages, rest days, duties and notice for ending the contract, and to spell out the rest day arrangements in it, with any change made in writing. Its eight-step guide gives this a step of its own, adding termination clauses and a safety agreement you agree and sign together. These are advisory steps in MOM's guidance, not the Work Permit conditions themselves. On pay, MOM advises keeping a record of the monthly salary with the amount, the date and an acknowledgement from you both, and letting her manage her own salary. ^{[4] [5]}

MOM's guidelines for employment agencies placing foreign domestic workers are firmer. Agencies should educate employers that the worker keeps her own Work Permit card, that the employer must not hold her salary or money for her, and that her mobile phone is her personal property. The same guidelines say an agency should not advise employers to keep a foreign domestic worker's passport: MOM has met employers given that advice, and it has caused inconvenience and possible complications when workers later lodged complaints. ^[6]

Food, medical costs, sleeping space and rest days

MOM's welfare duties sit alongside the paperwork. You must provide three meals a day, and MOM asks you to be sensitive to her needs: do not force her to eat food she is not supposed to or comfortable with, whether because of religious beliefs or because your family's dietary requirements are unfamiliar to her. You are also responsible for her medical needs, which MOM lists as all medical costs, including hospitalisations and six-monthly medical examinations, plus medical and personal accident insurance. ^[7]

Accommodation has its own standard: shelter from sun, rain or strong winds, minimal amenities such as a mattress, pillow, blanket, bathroom amenities and toiletries, sufficient ventilation, safety away from dangerous equipment or structures, and a separate room where possible or adequate space and privacy. Rest days are a floor with some flexibility: one a week, mutually agreed, at least one day's salary if she works it, and one a month that cannot be compensated away. MOM also says the rest day can be one full day or two half days, and deferred by up to one month. ^[7]

Read the published care scope, then decide

A provider's own published terms are worth reading before you enquire. EduNanny, part of the BUTLER Group and the publisher of this journal — cited here as a documented example, not an endorsement — publishes that a confinement care brief can include feeding support, settling and rest routines, everyday newborn care and practical duties agreed with the family. Meal preparation, household tasks and bathing support are discussed individually and included only when expressly agreed in the care plan. Families are asked to review dates, hours, agreed duties, availability, fees, GST treatment, payment, cancellation and rescheduling terms before support begins. ^{[8] [9]}

A hypothetical question drawn from those terms: you want overnight help from week two and expect simple meal preparation — which duties are included, what are the fees, and when is the booking confirmed? Answer it in writing. Notice too how plainly an exclusion is stated elsewhere on that site: its private nanny care, a different service from confinement care, says baby bathing is not included there. EduNanny also notes that ECDA pilot subsidies and subscription deposits do not automatically apply to confinement care. Before you sign: search the agency, settle the employment documents if she is engaged as a migrant domestic worker, and get the care scope and exclusions in writing. Health concerns belong with a qualified healthcare professional. ^{[9] [8]}

Disclosure: EduNanny is a BUTLER business. This article covers an EduNanny or BUTLER service.

Sources

EduNanny Editorial · AI-assisted research and writing, reviewed by our automated editorial team. Sources checked 2026-10-09. Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration.