Thinking of leaving corporate world to become a nanny...

[marycorporate]

Hi there,

I am looking for some advice. I am 30 years old living in South East. I have a 5 year old daughter and I have been working in the corporate world my whole career. I'm successful but having ridden out the recession I am pretty burnt out and have realised that it's no longer for me.

Although I have no formal expereince, I am raising my 5 year old on my own and I am a natural with children. I'm really involved with my DD's school too and could get references from the teachers and parents I'm sure. People say I'm pretty intelligent and I'm also confident and sociable, love culture etc. I'd like to think I'd be providing a far higher level of care than a college leaver.

So these are my questions, I'd appreciate any advice!

1, (The obvious one!) How much money can I make? My director is currently paying her nanny (non live in) £36,000... it's in London so I'm not expecting tat but some of the ads I've seen in gumtree etc are offering £6/hr.. I don't understand..?

2, I have bags of energy and I'm an awesome cook so I'd like to be able to offer to cook family meals, do the house work, walk dogs etc as well as look after the children - would that be popular? It seems all the ads I have seen are purely for childcare...

3, How likely is it that I could have my daughter there after school?

4, how many placements offer a car in general?

5, Do you go self employed or PAYE?

6, What are your thoughts on agencies and do they register people with no experience?

I really appreciate your help, this is a big change for me!!!

In answer to your q's:

1. Taking your child - Hit & miss. The family are paying you to look after their children, not your own. Some families would employ a nanny with own child if they are sure it's the right nanny. Usually "The right nanny" is someone who has plenty of nannying experience. You can't afford to be fussy about which jobs to apply for if you want to have your child with you.

1. Again, hit & miss. You may have a car whilst on duty but it's very unlikely you could use it getting to & from your place of work.

1. Nannies by law are not allowed to be self-employed. 99% of families now will only consider Ofsted registered nannies at a cost of £103. You would need your CRB which will take a few weeks, a peadiatric first aid (Takes up about 12 hours) & insurance at about £70.

1. You should speak to a few agencies local to you.

Pay-wise, depends on experience....your agencies will advise.

1. First job will be the hard one - maybe you can advertise in your school to nanny for other parents - that will mean taking what you can get to get foot on ladder. After first job you can command up to £9 gross per hr in South East as live-out (unlikely to ever earn much more because of your own DD - without a child you would be able to get up to £12 or so). Even if you got the same wage as your boss's nanny, the take home for you would be £505 for around 50-55 hours a week, so you'll not get rich.

2) Yep, families love that. It fills the gap between drop off and pick up - quite normal for nannies to do stuff like this once their charge start school - they are normally advertised as nanny/housekeeper roles. 3) You need to find the right family. 4) IF in town - no car, if out of town - car. But then you would need your own vehicle to get to/from their house as car is only for use whilst working if you live out. 5) PAYE always. 6) Some good, some bad.

Other things to factor in - what hours are you willing to do? What about school holidays? What emergency childcare arrangements can you put in place for those times when their kids are raging ill with bugs and you still need to go into work but can't take your DD with you? What will you do if they want you to take their DCs to places your own DD can't stand (or you can't afford)? your DD may have to hang round the rugby pitch for hours, or put up with sitting watching her 'friend' having riding lessons that you can't afford for her....

1. with no nannying experiance, and many very experianced highly qualified nannies looking for work at the moment, i doubt you would be paid much more than £7 / hour (especially if you would like you DC their too)
2. many families would like that yes.
3. depends on the family... between you and them, but it would limit the area that you searched for jobs as would need to be near to her school
4. only some offer a nanny car. Id say more families like you to use your car (and pay 40p per mile for work miles)
5. PAYE
6. all the big / London agencies that i have come across insist on at least 2 years experiance (or a childcare qualification)... and some need qualifications AND 2 years nannying experiance

Its a competative market out there at the moment, and in all honsty with no experiance, AND wanting to take your own child, i dont think you can expect to earn anywhere close to £36k! IMO half that is stretching it!

But it depends who you find to work for and what you agree between the 2 of you!

If you get made redundant and get a payoff, then you may want to consider other jobs but in the current financial climate I would advise leaving a job (possibly quite well paid - what do you earn now?) to be a nanny.

is your director paying her nanny £36k, or is that the cost of employing her?

£36k is a salary for an experienced, qualified nanny working long hours with at least 2 children and not her own child in tow, I'm afraid.

Have you thought about childminding?

36k???????? Bloody hell.

I'm in the wrong job.

Thanks all, looks like back to the drawing board then! I earn 30k basic currently but anything from 10k ? 20k on top in commission. I would be happy with 28k a year all in as it?s the quality of life I want now, not the career.
My dd has childcare after school so I wouldn?t need her to be there. I just thought it would enable me to work later if she was there as I wouldn?t have to fetch her from her childminder at 6pm.
I wouldn?t do childminding as I wouldn?t want my husband to have his home turned in to a nursery (not that it wouldn?t suit some people, but he?s really particular. Plus his ex wife was a childminder and he hated coming home to toys everywhere and having 10 towels in the bathroom!)

Director pays that salary, she employs her through the business as a normal employee.

Hurrumph.. back to the board room for me then.

£36k with a degree and at least 10 years experience in your work and working 50+ hours a week.

Is that a lot?

In fact when she started looking she went through an agency and was shocked that they were asking for 30k for a 19 year old who had just come to the UK! Cumbria that?s what prompted my idea!

Maybe setting up a nanny agency would be more profitable!

my last comment was to cumbria

if the director is employing the nanny through the business then she's fiddling the books - the nanny doesn't work for the business, does she? she works for your boss

True MrsArmstrong, but that wasn't my question I think she does some light admin from the home which is how they get around it.

I know it wasn't your question - but I thought it relevant as it reduces the overall cost to your boss of employing a nanny.

And there's no way around it, as far as I know. Light admin from home doesn't make her a PA - sounds like a tax dodge to me tbh.

So while she may pay £36k, it's costing her less than someone employing a nanny in the straightforward way, therefore she can afford to pay her nanny more.

going off on a tangent here but why does it cost less?

Or is it that the company is paying the employERS NI, so employers dont have to budget for it out of their own pay?

I know loads and loads of nannies who are paid through their bosses companies (large and small companies)... and for two of my jobs i was too. When they are employing accountants etc for all their staff it always seems easier for accountants to do nannies wages / payslips etc etc too

You can be paid through a company, but whoever has the nanny physically working for them needs to pay tax on top of their salary because its a taxable benefit. (Much the same as a car which is used for personal use).

If they are NOT paying tax on top of this income, then they are fiddling the books.