Interviewing Nannies this week - from childcare.co.uk

[DCSsunhill]

I am so new to this. I have a found a few, available people in my area that sound fine for the hours that I am offering.

What should I be asking them when we meet? It is for 12 hours a week, so not much.

Apologies also for my naivety, but if I source someone from a website do I still pay NI for them and do all their payslips? Or would the nanny organise PAYE and do their own tax return.

Thank you in advance. I just don't want to sound like an idiot.

Just to answer the ni question -
You would be an employer so are responsible for any tax and ni deductions. It is vital that you agree/offer a gross wage as it is highly likely that the nanny will have another job as yours is only 12 hours a week. If they have another job then they will probably be using their tax allowance on that job and will be paying tax on all of their wages from you. You would only need to deduct ni from their wage if you are paying them more than £108 (I think?) a week.

If you're employing them then you need to pay their tax and NI and issue payslips. There are companies like nannytax that will do this for you.

Ask them about their previous jobs, childcare and non-childcare.
Ask them about what they like doing, what they don't like doing.
Your aim is to find out about them as a person, as well as their childcare ability, so general chat to them about things that are of interest to them.

They are also there to learn about you and your children, so talk about things that are of interest to you... if you like children being outdoors a lot, then say so. Be clear as to what your expectations are, if the job involves housework then make that clear. Sure you will have such things in a contract but you should discuss them before that point - a nanny who says they will take the job shouldn't in my view be finding any surprises in the contract.

Ask to see ID documents - you have a duty to check their Identification and any immigration status. UKBA Preventing Illegal Working Guides

Agree with others, vital to agree a Gross salary. Details from HMRC about registering as an employer. As the hours you are offering are low, chances are the person will have other employment, so you will have to operate PAYE regardless of the income level.

Oh thank you for this!

Unfortunately I have just seen your responses after the potential nanny has gone, and I didn't cover any of your points. Gah!!

Oh well. She was lovely and just seemed so right. My worry is that I am worrying too much about the behaviour of my children rather than her attributes.

We're going to meet again after i've done all of my sums so I will def take all of your suggestions on board. Thank you for the tax info, I will start to look in to that.