I am an absolute beginner to the world of nannies. Please help.

[bluetrampolines]

I am investigating the possibility of hiring a nanny. I'm a single parent. 3 young children. What are your tips? Experiences? Anything helpful you can share with me? Please.

That is a difficult role to fill..

• nanny to three children (already more than the average family)
• split shifts (very difficult to find work to fill the middle hours)
• no hours in the holidays (again.. very tricky to fill this)

You might be lucky to find someone who wants these hours..

Why can’t you use a day nursery for the younger ones and breakfast and after school clubs for the oldest?

If you need extra housework get a cleaner.

Or you could combine nursery/cm with an au pair?

The trouble is the job has to be enough for the nanny to live on. So term time only can be okay for someone with children or who likes to temp in the holidays. However, with a split shift most nannies would need to be paid a full day in order to make ends meet.

I’m a nanny (I’m self employed for a few reasons so am cheaper than other nannies) and I wouldn’t do this job as the hours sound too bitty and not enough work - you’re basically asking them not to work for 3 months a year when you add all the holidays together. I think you will struggle to find someone without offering some kind of financial incentive, after all nannies are just trying to make a living too. I have taken a pay cut as my youngest charge starts school but that incorporates a retainer and I’ve been guaranteed full time work in holidays. It just wouldn’t be worth it otherwise.

I'm not sure how you'd think that not having year-round work would be an attractive prospect, OP!

Perhaps op thinks it would appeal to someone with their own children who would not then have to find childcare.
But the actual hours don’t really fit in with that as they are any mum’s busy time.

Very difficult to get a pt nanny. We have an au pair living in for this reason

Yes, part time nannies are very hard to find, because the money is obviously not enough for them to live on.

You can only advertise and see if anyone applies, op.

Would an au pair suit? Do you have a spare room?

I work 12.5 hour shifts. I am not well paid. But as I am a single parent of 3, and have to work shifts for my career (it's standard as a hcp) I needed a nanny. There is absolutely no other option.
My children are 16, 5 and 3 now. I've had a nanny for 2 years since returning from mat leave with my youngest as a single mum. It's worked well enough up til now.
My youngest starts preschool in September, and as I work 2 long days a week, I am sending him to preschool on those days, as I wish to spend my days off in the week with him. This means I still need a Nanny 7am-9am And 3pm-8.30pm.
As a result, I've had to adapt the role to a nanny housekeeper kind of thing.
I'm not entirely happy about this as I can not see how the nanny will fill 12 hours a week with child related housekeeping duties.
But, I don't have a choice. No one is going to take the above work on (and be available for at least 7 weeks of the school holidays for the full 13.5 hours) unless I pay for the full day.
I'm paying £8 ph and live in the NW. Fairly low cost of living area, so the wage is in line with local wages. Plus they will definitely get plenty of free time during the day to do their own thing.

I forgot to add, they get 7 weeks holiday a year, well above the minimum requirements.

Is an au pair an option OP?

This is really helpful. There is a long and ugly divorce going alongside this. Maybe I do need an au pair rather than a nanny. I have a professional role and hope to fast track promotion. Potentially I could be taking a lot of work home. My aim is to have suitable childcare so i can get my work done at work. I heard that it is almost impossible to find a good au pair. I live in a rural location. I could free up a spare room. I'm very worried about how i piece it all together.

Why don’t you need childcare in the holidays?

That’s where the problem lies.

I'm a teacher.

Have you looked to see if there are any childminders in your area who do late collection? And then get a cleaner for the house work. Or as others have said advertise for a “mother’s help”, it’s the type of job that would appeal to me as a mum but I can’t see any single and child free nannies being able to afford to take the job.

I would focus on what you need NOW not what you might need in 2 years. I assume you’re thinking about the 15 hours for the 3 year old? Thing is though by the time the nanny has taken them there (I assume drive given v rural) and then go home it isn’t actually that long before they need to leave and pick them up.

Nannies ofte use phrase such as “I charge £x per hour”. Well firstly they don’t get to charge anything they are not self employed - they can absolutely have a view on the rate they are willing to accept but as the employer you set it. Second many nannies and agencies still think in terms of net so make sure you are all ok the same page about what

Term time only will be off putting to many, might work with a nanny with own child who is school age but they’d have to be at the same school I suppose to be practical.

In London live in nannies are notably cheaper than live our, in large part due to how expensive living in London is. I would try and find some agencies hat cover your area and get their advice.

Okay. Thank you. So a Mother's Help is perhaps a better description of what I'm after. The school is in the village so whilst rural not a completely isolated place. I like the idea of a kind of Adopt A Granny type scenario. Potentially it would be ideal for someone but it really is a case of finding them. I've put feelers out but it's early days and no sign of anyone so far.

My children have been through a lot and me returning to full time work will be quite a shock. I'm organised and run a tight ship so the cleaning wouldnt have to be part of the deal.

You'll be hard pressed to find someone who won't be paid for 13 weeks of the year. They have bills to pay too.

It seems to me that your requirements hit two separate demographics that don’t overlap. Someone who doesn’t want to work in school holidays - that would be great for a parent who wants to be with their children in the holidays. Someone who wants to work outside school hours - that wouldn’t be a parent as they’d like to pick their kids up from school.

But surely a higher hourly rate for the hours actually worked is better than a lower annual salary?

Yes Panda. That seems to be it. I like the idea of someone retired but of course i couldn't advertise for that.

Blue, I pay my nanny by claiming tax credits. Because my costs are high and I have 3 children, a significant proportion is paid. I've attached a picture to show the various thresholds.

Dream That is very helpful. Thank you.