Nanny - hit me with your thoughts/guidance/experience

[oblada]

Here for traffic really.

My youngest has got some additional needs. As such she requires some extra care and attention. I'm on mat leave and planning my potential return to work (if I do return to work - still considering staying at home too..). Nursery isn't going to an option and nor is a childminder realistic really. So we're looking for a nanny. I've crunched some numbers and I think we can afford it.

We have 3 other children, all will be at school during the day by the time the nanny starts with us (age 4, 7, 10).
I'm thinking of £12 gross per hour for about 36-38hours per week. I'll probably take the 3 kids to school but she will pick them up and have them after school. For the pay - It seems to be average to good in my area (North West, not a major city). I think anyway... well I'm hoping so!

Either myself or my husband are likely to be working from home at any given time during the week (ie between the 2 of us, one of us will be home during the week) but there is enough space for her to make ourselves sparse whilst working. Not planning on micromanaging anything but at least we're there if there is an actual issue to handle related to her additional needs.

What are people's thoughts and advice on employing a nanny?
I'm comfortable with the HR/payroll side due to my professional background, I can handle that myself.

What else should I consider? What should I worry about or plan? I'm trying to set a rate of pay that is good but also doesn't stretch us massively so there is room to manoeuvre for activities for the nanny to take the kids to and also for bonuses if relevant etc.

Any experience on employing a nanny? Any experience of being one and what you liked/disliked?
Just trying to visualise things (I'm a planner and my youngest has thrown quite a spanner in the work when it comes to planning....).

Also - had anyone got any experience of using the tax free childcare thing for a nanny and with multiple children? Xx

I've used tax free childcare for a nanny. You have to have an Ofsted registered nanny. We paid for our nanny to do the relevant qualifications and paid for the extras.

You might struggle on £12 pH. It might depend on how many additional needs your youngest has.

Good luck. Having a nanny was life changing for us. Life was so much easier.

Hi OP. I've never used a nanny, so am hardly the voice of experience, but £12 sounds on the low side for looking after 4 children, one of whom has additional needs. That's what I pay the local teen to mow my grass, and it's less than I pay the cleaner!

@livingthegoodlife

I've used tax free childcare for a nanny. You have to have an Ofsted registered nanny. We paid for our nanny to do the relevant qualifications and paid for the extras.

You might struggle on £12 pH. It might depend on how many additional needs your youngest has.

Good luck. Having a nanny was life changing for us. Life was so much easier.

Thanks! Did you make the payment out of 1 account only? To make the most of it I'd have to divide the pay between 3 accounts. I am set up on tax free childcare and use it for nursery, it's just the nanny side I'm unsure about. The nanny rate in my area seems to be 10-12gross... in terms of additional needs - it's mainly that she needs supervision, no actual medical/nursing care. It's a bit difficult to explain but in practice she is a normal baby but who needs to be looked after more constantly I suppose. My older girls (10 and 7) are perfectly able to look after her for a bit for instance... What rate of pay did you have in place if you don't mind me asking and where about are you based?

We are in the northwest and have a nanny for our son with ASD and our other NT son. She is absolutely amazing but we do pay £14.60 per hour gross. I do think that it is worth the stretch if you can possibly afford it.

@bloodyhairy

Hi OP. I've never used a nanny, so am hardly the voice of experience, but £12 sounds on the low side for looking after 4 children, one of whom has additional needs. That's what I pay the local teen to mow my grass, and it's less than I pay the cleaner!

That's one bloody lucky teenager lol! I pay my cleaner approx 12quids per hour but she has to come only for 2-3 hours and isn't employed. I have to factor in employer NI and pension.. But fair comments! To be honest my older girls don't need looking after. We were absolutely fine having them in the house whilst both DH and I working from home during the first lockdown. My 4 yrs old will need some interaction tho. After school so for a couple of hours at most each day. But yes fair point :)

@PenguinWings

We are in the northwest and have a nanny for our son with ASD and our other NT son. She is absolutely amazing but we do pay £14.60 per hour gross. I do think that it is worth the stretch if you can possibly afford it.

Is that FT? That would be over 28k which I don't think we can stretch to. We should be ok with 25k gross but would look for 23.5k if possible to have some wriggle room. Otherwise I can try and compress my hours and offer a 4 day contract... hmmm.. Also - if your nanny is FT presumably she eats lunch at yours (ie food you provide)? Or does she prefer to bring her own?

You normally pay a nanny net so if you are offering gross you need to scale it down to net before you compare hourly rates. You also normally feed a nanny all the meals that she has whilst working - so if she starts early to give the children breakfast then she should be offered that as well. She would expect you to provide lunch and if she is cooking for and supervising the children's meal in the evening then you should expect that she will eat some of that too. In any case it is good for the children to have someone to eat with them.

I was once told by my very experienced nanny that if you don't have a fridge full of diet coke your children will have no friends (as the other nannies won't come round....).

@Londonmummy66

You normally pay a nanny net so if you are offering gross you need to scale it down to net before you compare hourly rates. You also normally feed a nanny all the meals that she has whilst working - so if she starts early to give the children breakfast then she should be offered that as well. She would expect you to provide lunch and if she is cooking for and supervising the children's meal in the evening then you should expect that she will eat some of that too. In any case it is good for the children to have someone to eat with them.

I was once told by my very experienced nanny that if you don't have a fridge full of diet coke your children will have no friends (as the other nannies won't come round....).

I've never seen nanny's salary quoted as net. The average in my area is definitely 10-12pounds per hour gross. But I can understand some nannies may want to know their net pay and I can run a example payroll to give them an idea. But otherwise it's like any other job - usually quoted in gross hourly rate or salary - no?

Lol re diet coke - my children will have no friend then we certainly don't blame on buying diet coke now or ever. I do agree re cooking / sharing meal/food tho :)

Don’t forget all the added expenses with a Nanny:

• Transport - will you provide them with a vehicle, if yes, your insurance will go up as it’s being used by an employer (ours went up 1k)

If they use your own then you are paying 45 p per mile

• Home insurance - you need to check your policy has employers liability or get a separate policy

• Our Nannies have always been free to have what they want to eat meal wise. They just let me know if they want anything in particular from shop

• Kitty money - so will need money for outings. I know this can be a particular problem. I think families need to be very clearly what will be given. I know a lot of Nannies who have left jobs because families provide no kitty money and they are expected to entertain toddlers all day in winter with no ability to go to soft play etc.

@Froggie456

Don’t forget all the added expenses with a Nanny:

• Transport - will you provide them with a vehicle, if yes, your insurance will go up as it’s being used by an employer (ours went up 1k)

If they use your own then you are paying 45 p per mile

• Home insurance - you need to check your policy has employers liability or get a separate policy

• Our Nannies have always been free to have what they want to eat meal wise. They just let me know if they want anything in particular from shop

• Kitty money - so will need money for outings. I know this can be a particular problem. I think families need to be very clearly what will be given. I know a lot of Nannies who have left jobs because families provide no kitty money and they are expected to entertain toddlers all day in winter with no ability to go to soft play etc.

Thanks froggies! The last 2 are very much at the forefront of my mind hence why I don't want to stretch the salary too much to ensure I have enough for everyone to be happy. For transport - it would be our car (one of them) though in practice I don't think she's need it. Just a note - there is no requirement to pay someone 45p per mile for using their own car, it's usual practice in the public sector certainly but not required as long as the pay minus expenses plus reimbursed expenses meets minimum wages requirements. But anyway Id think our car would make more sense if needed - I'd need to investigate if required... Home insurance - yes I checked it's on and I'm renewing the home insurance anyway so good timing :)

Thanks xx

I’m in London and have employed three nannies, all on payroll, and I have never seen a nanny salary/hourly rate that was quoted as gross. It still blows my mind. I have absolutely no idea why this is the one corner of the world where this is the norm. I used an agency to find a nanny once and expected them to quote gross, but even they didn’t. It is well worth checking because it sounds like you have a tight margin.

Don’t forget pension contribution.

@oblada those mileage rates are standard in Nanny contract in my area (all three agencies we have used). I think if you weren’t offering that rate of mileage down here (London/Home Counties) you may struggle to get someone. If they have Business insurance on their car (which they will need) it really hikes their premiums so I can understand why 45 p is used.

Thanks Froggie. I know it's 'common' and I imagine it would be in London etc. I don't plan on using an agency and I'm in the north west. I'm in HR so I can draft the contract no issue and do the payroll etc :)

Tina - thanks for the heads up. Weird stuff! I've definitely seen it quoted gross here. I don't plan on using an agency anyway.
Yes I've included pension contributions and employer NI in my calculations..

Will she be looking after your three older children from after school until the evening? That seems like a lot of work for her.

Just make triply sure she understands how much she would be taking on and also that you’d really be relying on her long term.

Have always quoted and contracted a gross salary (& a translation into what that equates to as net at current tax rates) on the basis that you need to cap what you're spending (so gross means you're not hit on tax raises) but nannies always want to know what they're getting in their pocket.

Remember compulsory pension contribution too.

For a nanny with experience in additional needs, you will need to pay top end of pay scale. Four children in itself would also add to cost normally, but if you're dropping all at school and they're using some holiday activities / camps in the school holiday, that might be ok (extra cost though). Depending on the nature of the special needs, a nanny may not agree to take on 3 additional kids who need driving to ballet / football / friends houses / tutoring / whatever else 4 nights a week and throughout school holidays. LIsten to what experienced nannies tell you in interviews.

@DfEisashambles

Will she be looking after your three older children from after school until the evening? That seems like a lot of work for her.

Just make triply sure she understands how much she would be taking on and also that you’d really be relying on her long term.

Thanks! She will pick them up from school at 330pm or thereabout and finish at about 5pm I expect so not too much work I'd expect especially if they go through the park (which my 3 want to do 99percent of the time:)). Otherwise at home my older 2 are self sufficient. If anything she may find it easier to have the others tbh as my oldest 2 are great help with their little sister. But yes I take your point re expectations etc. Husband or I will be working from home in flexible enough jobs so will be around etc (whether that's better or not I don't know :))

Thanks Euro - I don't think the other kids will need to be taken to activities etc. We've always done that after work for us so should be fine for us to deal with it as before.
School hols - we normally use an holiday sport club which is pretty cheap so will probably do that still.

That’s not too bad then and it could be a lovely part of the day for her and your girls walking through the park after school. Good luck, hope you find someone amazing.

your early finish at 5 will be a huge bonus for someone which will be a major balancing factor for lots of kids!

A lot of nannies don’t really like the parents to be at home! It causes difficulties with the nanny having to stop the children disturbing the parents, the children not understanding why they can’t see mum, the parents interfering or disagreeing with things etc.

So you need to be clear about expectations and to what extent you’ll be available/involved during her working hours.

Thanks! So far I'm finding I'm getting quite a lot of interest even tho it's still v early days but I want to make sure I price it right for everyone and find someone who want to stay with us for a good while...I'm happy someone keen to learn and for her to learn with us and hopefully I can increase the pay as we go along as me/DH progress in our careers etc....

When I had a nanny a few years ago, I was advised it was dodgy to pay a nanny net.

You need to factor in things like holiday, sick and even mat leave. Our nanny ended up on long term sick. We had to pay ssp and kept getting short term cover. In the end we switched to nursery.

This isn’t a helpful comment - but I read the thread title as ‘Nanny hit me...’. Which did rather intrigue me.

Sounds like you’re expecting a lot for the hourly rate you’re offering. When we hired a nanny in London, I found that anyone halfway decent was naming their price to me.

So good luck, I guess. Certainly what they offer is worth a significant premium compared to nursery.

A good childminder might be a (cheaper) option too. It would certainly take some rooting around to find the right one, but they are out there.