Nanny in Hertford needed... where do I start?!

[madasabadger]

Hi

Sorry if this is a really lame post, but I have three boys (one 3yrs and twin 10mth olds) and am due to go back to work 4 days/wk in Feb. I figure that a live-out nanny is probably going to be the cheapest option for childcare for 3 kids at this age, but hadn't realised how complicated it all is. I've read a few threads about sick pay and sacking people and am now completely bamboozled and overwhelmed (not helped by being knackered as twins up every night all night.... fab in the day tho - in case any prospective nannies reading this - ha ha!).

Can anyone recommend a simple 'how-to' guide on how this all works with the steps that I need to go through? I don't really know how to find someone and can't really afford an agency. Does anyone else have kids of a similar age who's sorted a different type of childcare or a nanny - did it work out okay? We don't have tons of cash and the idea of being an employer is a bit bizarre tbh.

We need someone for 10-11 hours per day, 4 days per week. Our 3yr old is at nursery every morning across the road from our house and that's the only collecting job that needs doing. He also still has an hour afternoon nap. We were looking to pay about £1800 per month all in, but don't know if that is realistic. The net / gross thing is a bit beyond me at the moment, but don't know if its because am so tired! Am also panicking that not enough time to sort it out now.

Can anyone help?

Spreadsheet: Nanny Costs - 4 days per week, 11 hours per day

At £10 Gross per hour, the cost of Salary, Employers NI, Payroll and a £5 per day expenses kitty is £26,141 which is about £2179 a month. This does not include nannies travel expenses whilst on duty, or miscellaneous things like increase in food costs (as nanny would be having Lunch and Afternoon Tea probably at your home).

So the first thing I feel you should do is look at how much you can afford financially as I don't feel £1800 all in will cover it.

If you were to pay around National Minimum Wage then it comes in to your budget but how many nannies would care for 3 children for NMW?

Net Gross - Easy as the employer, you ALWAYS offer Gross. If the nanny does not understand Gross then they can use PAYE Calculator to get a feel for the Net amount. In 2012/13 tax year, if the nanny has tax code 810L then £10 gross (44 hours per week) is around £7.90 Net. You of course don't know what the nannies tax code will be and it can change part way through a tax year, thus why you deal in Gross, so your cost does not change. Your cost will change come the April 2014 depending what is announced at the budget regarding Employers National Insurance.

Job Description:
Come up with a list of the things you would want a nanny to do.

Consider the Start Time, Finish Time, What the working days are.
Consider what your minimum expectations are with regard to the nannies childcare experience and training.
Consider what you are doing about transport - providing a car? Is everywhere walkable? Does nanny need their own car? What about car seats?

Advertising:
Gumtree Hertforshire
Childcare.co.uk
NannyJob.co.uk

Thanks so much for your reply... really good info. Think we might be stuck tho with the costs you've suggested :-( Everything costs more with two babies at the same time rather than different ages. Back to the drawing board...

Also you would have to include extra costs on heating, electric water as there would be someone in the house always

Hi madasabadger, I've been a nanny for 12 years and I think what offering sounds perfectly reasonable. If you r worried about the whole tax/national insurance then companies like nanny tax/ paye for nannies are great for giving advice.

Also if you don't want to go down agency route then I have always found places like gumtree etc as nannynick suggested as a good place to find work also recently found a great job on www.localnanny.co.uk they are a website just for Hertfordshire (where i am based) and Bucks so would be a great place for you to advertise being in Hertford. Hope this helps x

Newmummy4 as a nanny in the area, what salary would you expect? I don't think 1800 All In (so including employers NI, payroll admin, weekly activities budget etc) will cover it, so would be interested to know what salary you would expect to be paid for 4 x 11hour days.

I work fairly local and I get paid slightly more than that but I have more than 10 years experience of working with children and 6 years teaching English as a foriegn language. I don't think finding a nanny is completely impossible

happychappy - to get the Total Cost below £1800 then the salary would be a little below £8.30 gross (£6.75 net). Are you saying you are paid 'slightly' more than that, or actually quite a lot more? Is say £8 gross a realistic salary for a nanny in Hertfordshire?

madasabadger - it is doable if you can find a nanny who will accept the salary level. You could try advertising and seeing how much interest you get - maybe someone would do it for less than £8 gross an hour.

I agree to an extent but there isn't a great deal of work around here and a job that is virtually full time is quite rare. So you may get a nanny with little experience to take but probably they wouldn't stay for ages.
Nannynick, you get what you pay for as with everything in life.

Hi,

Thank you all for your comments - all really useful. I went to a toddler group this morning and spoke to the lady who runs it who is a nanny with quite a lot of experience. She repeated quite a lot of what you'd said, but thought that getting someone for the amount we were thinking of was quite likely. She said that a take home pay of £1000 would be fine for those hours / days and for our set-up. I guess there's only one way to find out! I'm going to advertise and see what happens. Thank you again for all your advice ... I feel so much less worried about it all now, especially the tax and payroll stuff. Will let you know how we get on.

Also advertise on net mums

I'm in the area but only have 2 days free unfortunately.

Good luck!

Hi Glitternanny

Thank you for your advice - I put an ad on Net Mums, but haven't heard anything - not sure if I'm missing something! I put an email address on the ad. I also advertised on Gumtree, Localnanny.co.uk and Childcare.co.uk

Have just found out about employers' liability insurance too... hope there's nothing else I've missed - is a bit scary becoming an employer!

Thanks again. :)

Do you think maybe it is down to salary as Nick said?

I live locally and have many friends who are nannies. I think I saw your ad on gumtree advertising at £7ph gross? Apologies if that was not you! But if it was that is it I would have thought, as I don't know anyone who would want a four day job with three charges all day for that amount.

I tried to check it out and haven't found it. Are you sure it's live?

www.gumtree.com/p/jobs/4-day-wk-live-out-nanny-needed-in-hertford-from-february/93416139

There you go happy chappy!

I am slightly further south, towards Watford, but when i was a nanny with own child, I was paid £8 net per hour. A friend working over in Bushey was I think at the top of the local wage scale on just over £10 net per hour. But as I said we are a little closer to London so that makes a difference.

Ill sent it to my friend. she might be interested.

Thanks happychappy,

This is all new to me, but a local nanny said a take home of £1000 for the job we're advertising was good so thought we'd give it a shot. Its not that I want to pay a pittance - its just that if I pay more I'll have to quit work and my job is the most stable (in this recession type status we're in) - tho the NHS is not the most stable place to be these days! My eldest is in nursery every morning so its not all three all day... I feel mean now!

We did have a few responses and then as soon as Christmas was over got more - especially from Gumtree. I also realised that if you view a profile on Childcare.co.uk it sends the person an email to tell them they've been viewed and a link to our profile (job ad)... so I looked at lots and got lots of applicants all of a sudden! We may end up paying more than £7ph I think, but can't afford much more. Will let you know how it turns out...
Thanks again :)

Bit of an update... after the worrying lull over Christmas, we then got tons of interest and 35-ish applicants. We finally chose someone and although paid more than originally offering, all came in on budget (I think!). I guess there's not much work about at the moment, but most of the people we spoke to seemed happy with the salary. Hopefully as we get pay increases (??!! in the NHS) we'll be able to pass them on to her. Thank you all for your advice - was a real life (and sanity) saver!

I'm currently writing a contract and think we're going with PAYE for Nannies - following your posts and also a chat with a lovely man on the phone! Only thing I'm stuck with is the CRB. Ofsted are not renewing the CRB check after the initial one they do so if we want an up to date one, we have to sort it ourselves. Anyone know how we can do this (cheaply)?

Thanks again. xxx