Hiring a temporary nanny - what do I need to know

[EldonAve]

Due to injury it looks as though I'm going to need to hire a temporary nanny

Not had a nanny before so what do I need to know?
What hours are normal in London ? Is 7-7 too long a day?

Also any agency recommendations?

Thanks

How long for? And how quickly? That will depend on the info!

7-7 is within acceptable limits, any longer would be a bit much.

Before you start looking note down what you want your nanny to do, how long you're likely to need them for and how much you're willing to pay. Are you so incapacitated that you need someone to take over totally (therefore very experienced and capable) or are you able to supervise (therefore might suit someone less experienced and definitely someone used to working shared charge)? Do you need them to do household duties?

Agencies, assuming London, with good (and efficient temp desks): Eden and Imperial. If you can narrow down location a bit more there may be more local agencies who can help you. There will probably also be nannies in your local area advertsiign on gumtree of netmums but if you're out of action you may not feel up to doing a 1st time nanny hunt solo.

Check their qualifications, CRB and reference even if from an agency - they should be able to show you these at interview and provide you with phone numbers for referees. For temp nannies don't be put off by a CV with lots of jobs as if they've temped professionally for even a few months they could have had 10 jobs. Aim to check the last 3 references.

It's probably better to get someone who is accustomed to temping continuously. Firstly they won't leave you for another job, secondly they're used to working in all kinds of situations so will be pretty flexible and thirdly they may meet the criteria for self-employment and have all that set up which simplifies your life considerably.

If you need a nanny for an extended period of time, however, you may need to become an employer in which case outsourcing all that to a payroll company, such as Nannytax or PAYE for nannies is probably the simplest (if not the cheapest) solution.

Not sure of timescale yet probably 6 weeks
Maybe longer
Starting asap
Location is SW London

Thanks

6 weeks would be fine for them to remain SE.

Wimbledon Nannies are good and should cover your area, likewise Fulham nannies. Other agencies to try are Kensington, O&P and Tinies (although Tinies aren't particularly great they have a lot of staff on their books).

Going down the DIY route nannyjob, gumtree, netmums local childcare board and childcare.co.uk usually have a lot of candidates.

Not sure if www.nannytree.co.uk cover that area but if they do then they could employ the nanny for you, so no taxation issue, should you want the nanny to stay longer.

I have heard good things about Abbeville Nannies in SW london.

Thank you all, really helpful

hi, I'm back with further questions

if I employ someone direct (not via an agency) for 4-6 weeks can they still be self employed?

does anyone do their own payroll? sagepay is cheaper than Nannytax

If they are already SE and their 'career' is ad-hoc temp nannying it should be fine.

4-6 weeks self employed? Possibly. The only way to be sure is to get an employment status decision from HMRC: if you are based in England please telephone either 01274 204666 or 0121 643 0420;, if based in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland please telephone 01355 275719.

Yes lots of people do their own payroll, but for the effort and learning it takes to set up I would suggest it is not worthwhile for 4-6 weeks.

Sage Pay is not a payroll service.

There are a number of cheaper nanny payroll services than Nannytax, includeing payefornannies who do a 3 month service for just your situation for £60.

Thanks

I realise sage pay is just the software but payroll is pretty simple

Ah, you mean Sage (Instant) Payroll. Sage Pay is something entirely different.

I think the cheapest you will get Sage Instant Payroll is £69, and it costs £89 a year for updates (although you won't need that if only temporary).

There are cheaper payroll solutions including free software from 12pay and a free online service from Payroo but personally I don't like either of these.

The online service MyPAYE costs £1 per month per employee (I think the minimum is £10). Or for a software package I recommend Moneysoft at £55 plus VAT.

You could even use the appalling, but free, HMRC online system (I don't think they are sending out the CD system to new employers any more, which was even worse).

But personally I would still go for the £60 payefornannies service unless you are used to dealing with HMRC and really want to do it yourself.

yes sorry for the confusion

Oops, that wasn't very clear - the minimum payment for MyPAYE is £10 in total, not £10 a month.

Thanks

Just looked at the employee status questionnaire online - if you call do they ask you all the same questions?

Bumping for daytime

Yes, pretty much.

One big difference is that the employment status questionnaire places a great deal of weight on the fact that the job must be performed at a particular time. This means that the questionnaire almost always comes up with the answer 'employed'. For nannying this test is irrelevant, so a human is capable of ignoring it.

In practice they may say 'it depends' and refuse to give a ruling until you have a candidate. If the candidate is self-employed they have little to gain by saying they must go through PAYE, so may rule that for that candidate, the position can be treated as self-employed.

Thanks I called them and they said employed

I bet if I called them as an existing SE ad hoc nanny they'd tell me the opposite

This may make it difficult to find candidates who are willing to do your job, as it would otherwise have been ideal for a temp/mn between bookings but they're unlikely to want to take on an employed position.

OP - I have my old nanny who is free for the next month or so before travelling. Not sure if this might be helpful. She lived with us for three years and only left once we had moved house and no longer had room and I also become SAHM.
I can provide more details if you want to message me.

Thanks for your replies
Looks like I may have found someone

Now I understand I should contract for gross but how do I work it out from the net hourly rate

This should help, although the calculations change in April and I haven't added those changes yet :)

thank you