AIBU to think we will be able to hire an after school nanny?

[Rhayader]

For various complicated reasons, mostly beyond our control, we have ended up with our two DC in school and (the same) school nursery, both finishing at 3pm. DH works full time and I work 4 days a week 9-5. We live in zone 3 London.

AIBU to think that we will be able to find someone who wants to do 3 hours a day, 4 days a week? Or is this simply not enough hours. We would be prepared to pay up to £15 an hour.

I’m really starting to panic that we won’t be able to find anyone...

You're not unreasonable and I'm sure you'll find a nanny who works after school. It will be nice for your children to be able to go home to their own home, have a snack and relax until you come home.

Good luck in your search.

Just advertise the gross pay. Someone having several sources of income or a student loan is not really your problem.

I'm surprised so many people have found such great after school nannies.
When I first read your post I thought a childminder would be more likely.
The amount you are offering is obviously not enough to live off as a main job and those hours aren't likely to be ones which are 'spare' in a nanny's day.
I think you might need to offer more to make it attractive either in terms of money (maybe not possible) or flexibility (they can bring their own child).

Different nursery or childminder for little one, after school club for school child? Holidays then will be covered for little one and biggy can do holiday clubs?

Maybe a silly question but if someone was working term time, 12 hours a week for £15ph they would be earning well under the personal allowance anyway. It seems a bit odd that depending on what other jobs they had I would have to pay more?

A. Because tax is cumulative.

If they have another job paying, say, £11,000 pa and are on the standard tax code then they’ll have £1500 left of the personal allowance and then earnings on top will need to be taxed at 20%. So if you the. Employ them you will either need to talk to HMRC and get a new tax code which splits the allowance (something like 150L if on the standard allowance).

Otherwise you pay deducting tax at 20% - so you need to pay a higher gross to get the same net.

This is amplified if they have a K or T tax code where no personal allowance is allocated.

@meanmate we don’t actually need holiday cover for either child which is the main reason we haven’t just put the little one in another nursery. We couldn’t find a nursery that wasn’t 52 weeks a year, and we would have been paying for 16 weeks a year that we don’t need...

@merryoldgoat I find this strange as it doesn’t seem to be done that way for anything else. But if it’s the convention then I guess we will just have to go with it.

Not read the full thread, so may have already been mentioned, but check on your council website.
Ours publishes a list of registered childminders in the area, I would expect this to be much more comprehensive than those on privately-run childcare websites.

Some people are looking to just work part time, or they have other work to do etc. But its not easy finding these people. But I do know families that I have found nannies working these hours.

Oh I see, easier in a way but are you going to pay the nanny for the 16 weeks you don’t want her to work?

It’s tricky. I know nannies who do after schools and it’s seen as the graveyard shift while they wait for something better.

On the plus side, you only have two more years and then both can go into asc. So much easier. Hang in there, you’ll find a solution but it will probably cost you.

You will find something! With Koru kids, their nannies are largely students so won't know their timetables yet. Hopefully they will get back to you soon.

Have you considered an au pair? Would that be possible?

Childcare.co.uk if you haven't already. Nannies will just be starting to look for after school jobs for September now.

You may not get someone super qualified. And ffs offer a gross salary. Nobody should expect to be paid her in this day and age

Know someone who does this but she also has a morning job.

It’s actually only 1 year until we can send both to ASC. Really hoping Koru will find us someone but in the meantime it is stressful.

We could push our budget if we needed too and would be up for paying for a Z1-3 Oyster card if they needed to travel to us. It is just a case of whether that person exists 🤞

Unfortunately we don’t have the space for an Au Pair otherwise it is definitely something we would consider.

I’ve just had a scout around on the local council website and there are very few childminders who pick up from our school (probably because of the after school club which is only £11 per child) there are none that I can see with current vacancies although I doubt that is up to date. I will definitely post on the local Facebook parents groups.

Are you going to ask around at school? There will absolutely be childminders licking up other kids - and they’ll have just lost all the year 6 kids they had and will have spaces for next term.

Picking up!

You will need to factor in either holiday pay or consider when they will take holidays.

There are loads of these roles about. I advertised on gumtree and have a lovely older lady who picks up from school, supervises homework, empties the dishwasher and makes dinner for my kids.

Do advertise on Childcare or Gumtree. Your job won’t appeal to someone looking for a full time job but people like post grad students wanting a bit of income but still enough time to study, grannies topping up their early pension etc. Maybe even a local TA as some finish a little earlier.

Re the tax nonsense, in the past nanny posts were advertised as offering ££ net. That opened employers to all manner of nonsense and additional expenditure. For a number of years, parents have been encouraged to do the normal thing of advertising and agreeing gross earnings.

Definitely not unreasonable to want and an after school nanny! I know a few friends who have opted for this!

I personally would use an agency like Koru Kids or Little Ones (where we found our nanny) because while you maybe able to find a nanny for cheaper on Gumtree, agencies do all the reference checking etc for you - so I personally feel more secure using an agency.

www.littleoneslondon.co.uk/nannies/afterschool

We’ve used Koru Kids and have found them to be really good - just a word of warning, most of their nannies are students and have little to no experience with children. Not a problem necessarily where you need help with older children, but a bit more of a worry with very little ones. Most of their nannies want to work with reception children or older, but we did find a few who were happy with 2 / 3 year olds which was what we needed.

Another option is to speak to the TAs in the school - in our school many of the TAs do after school care for children in the school too.