What do I need to know to employ a nanny

[kerrykatonaskebab]

We have two under 4 and I am going back to work pt soon so have decided a nanny would be the best option for us.

I have heard that if you use vouchers they need to be ofsted registered and also that we need to pay tax and ni. What more do I need to know or consider before I advertise?

Any advice would be appreciated as I am new to all this.

A good place to start is to read this page which is from Directgov and covers many of the questions that you have asked. It has links to various sites to search for a nnanny through the family services search and also has advice about OFSTED and the voluntary part of the childcare register if your place of work does offer employer-supported childcare vouchers.

There are a huge number of message threads on here about employing a nanny, so if you use the Advanced Search facility you can find lots of useful information.

I suggest using keyword: nanny
Limiting the search to just this topic.
Limiting the date range - as the max number of messages displayed in search is 500, so you may need to search in say 6 month time periods.

Some message threads that may be useful:

Example Costs of Employing A Nanny (from Dec 2009)

Any Nanny employers do their own tax NICS etc?

Best nanny tax payroll service

A nannys role

Nanny interview questions

Nanny Qualificatons and Ofsted

How can a nanny receive childcare vouchers

I have heard that if you use vouchers they need to be ofsted registered

Yes, in England. If you need to part-pay using childcare vouchers, I would suggest you advertise specifically for a nanny who is already Ofsted registered, as the registration process can take some time - plus if they are already registered, you can be more confident that they meet the criteria for registration.

and also that we need to pay tax and ni.

Yes, a nanny is an employee, so you need to operate PAYE plus take into account all employment law. So things like having a written statement/contract, maternity rights, redundancy rights, holiday entitlement.

What more do I need to know or consider before I advertise?

Far too general a question in my view... probably impossible to answer as we don't know at what stage you are at.

You say you have 2 children and you are going back to work Part Time. I would wonder why you feel a nanny is your most suitable option. As cost wise it is usually more than the cost of a childminder or nursery - though does have the advantage that care is provided in your home, so no need to transport your children to someone else's home/nursery.

Read as much as you can about what a nanny does and employing a nanny. You have come to the right place, as we have loads of info on here... it can just be a little tricky to find. The childminding/nannies board has currently 343 pages of message titles, with around 50 tiles per page. So a huge number of messages there to look through.

Once you have a better understanding of what a nanny does, what rights they have, what things you need to do to be an employer... then ask us specific questions to help clarify things. We are a helpful bunch and can usually point you in the right direction.

wow that was quick. Thank you so much. I will start reading...

You will be in for a long night

Think about the sort of childcare you need, the hours the care is needed, what sort of costs you can afford, what will happen in say 2 years time... would you still need that type of childcare?

nannynick - I work part time and a nanny is by far the best option for us - it means my older son can stay in the local school nursery for 2.5 hours and that their social circle can stay the same (our village has a strong social network of SAHMs and my boys are still included in play dates etc) and they have one-on-one (or two) care with someone who's excellent. Yes it's not the cheapest, but it's by far the best.

OP - I've found HMRC very helpful in setting up payroll etc - you can pay someone to do your payroll but I've opted to do it myself. For contracts, I asked for advice here and used one of the standard ones.

Before we interviewed people we also wrote out a detailed job description for exactly what we wanted (ie time outside every day, no TV, nanny's responsibilities around the house which here is just meals and cleaning up after the kids, not general housework). I think it's good to spend the time and figure out exactly what you want so that you can provide that information to any prospective nannies.

We aren't using childcare vouchers because we initially couldn't (both self-employed) and now that I'm staff, I'm not sure how the Ofsted registration process would work in Scotland for our nanny.

I'd avoid agencies and Directgov to be honest. Direct gov has some useful advice and some that goes beyond their area of expertise.

You have to be prepared to become an emplyer and all the red tape and expense that comes with that. You can use childcare vouchers with a registered nanny. But, in my experience, once a nanny is registered she/he wants more money cancelling out any financial benefote of using the vouchers. So, you might want to consider non registered nannies as well.

In Soctland, nannies need to register with an agency for you to use vouchers (although they are still your employee). Most of the agencies have set up relatively cheap and easy systems to achieve this.

Thanks mranchovy - is it really that simple? (I'd love to pass at least some savings I could have on childcare vouchers on to the nanny - I think she's worth every penny and then some!)

if you can find a good local childminder with the spaces, or a good local nursery, I'd look very seriously at them compared to all the hassle (and extra cost) that goes with being an employer.

Also look where the older one will go to school, and potentially preschool.

Understand what is important to you in whoever you look for - what character, attributes, etc.

I agree though - part time is more cost effective than full time, as the tax is less evil.

Good luck...

tokengirl childminders are hard to find in my area or I'd consider it, but we did find that the statutory adult-child ratios for 3-5 year olds in nurseries was less than ideal for my son over a long (9 hour) day. A nanny allows him to stay in his home and she responds to his needs - it's a good solution for many people (I'm not saying nursery isn't but it didn't work for my son and I wish I'd known how simple a nanny was earlier).

The extra hassle of being an employer is more than offset by the reduced hassle in having someone come to my house. I leave the house with both kids still in their pjs some days (the youngest on occasion will sleep in until the doorbell rings when she arrives at 8am (but he never does this on a saturday unfortunately)) and that's worth a lot in reduced stress and hassle.

Google turns up:

West of Scotland Nanny Agency - says they charge £200 to set it up

Tinies - doesn't say how much, but gives the details of what's involved

Butterfly Personnel - only £185 here

... etc.

brilliant - thanks mra!

I am in Scotland, I registered my nanny for tax credits (same procedure as for childcare vouchers) using Butterflies. I phoned up and they sent me a registration pack which arrived the next day. There was a medical form and an Enhanced Disclosure form which my nanny filled in, I had to see and photocopy three forms of identity and write her a reference. It took about 3 weeks from the forms being returned for the Care Commission certificate and registration number to arrive.