Would you hire an unqualified "nanny"?

[Softlysoftly]

Don't know what else to call it! I have DD1 (3) who does 3 sessions at a pre-school and DD2 (5 months).

Am considering going back to work three days a week,a lower paid job with the pay off that's it's flexi and WAH apart from a few days a month travelling.

DD1 had a nursery nurse at nursery who she liked but was made redundant, DD hated the new carers and I didn't trust them (she said they hurt her) so removed her, haven't needed formal child are again until now.

I stayed on touch with the redundant nursery nurse and think she's a lovely girl. However she is young and didn't finish her qualifications (the nursery was paying), she's still looking for work.

Am wondering about asking her to look after the DDs while I work but - how does it work eg how much to pay? Tax? Do i need insurance? Does it matter she's unqualified? DH and I are generally in and out the house due to our work, does that matter?

I'm generally clueless about anything but nursery!

It doesn't matter that she is unqualified unless you want her to be Ofsted registered (if you want to use childcare vouchers or tax credits).

You must pay at least minimum wage for her age group, and operate PAYE (so deducting her tax and NI and giving her a payslip). You can register with HMRC as an employer - you can either do the payroll stuff yourself or use a nanny tax agency for about £100 a year.

You need to provide her with a contract and 5.6 weeks paid holiday a year.

It doesn't matter in the grand scheme if things, although supporting her to finish would be beneficial for her and for you.

You will need to do the PAYE as mentioned above and have employers liability insurance - this may come with your home insurance but do check as the Co-op don't do it, for example.

Consider having her renew her first aid certificate and she should get nanny insurance.

Young is how young?

There's a good guide here although some things won't apply it explains how things work.

Thank you for the information.

just checked and she's just turned 20, thought she was younger I must be getting old!

Agree with what others said. And nursery nurses are generally paid a very low salary especially for those unqualified so I'm sure she would be happy with a much lower salary than an experienced/qualified nanny. But I also agree it would be beneficial for the two of you if she qualified. You can do the cache level 3 children and young people's workforce part time over a year for about £1500, maybe you could pay for this if she was on a fairly low salary for a nanny.

Often local mums & toddler groups do free or very reduced childcare courses for mums or carers. Also they can still use the free toddler groups as long as you authorise the centre to allow them to be dropped off by her. This would give her breaks & a chance to chat to other carers

I think at the minimum you shoud pay for her to do the paediatric first aid. She is young, and as unqualified would not have been working unsupervised in the nursery. You have a five month old, and need to know that she could handle an emergency situation.

I am a young 'unqualified' nanny, I'm 21 myself and have over 7 years experience with working with children! I don't think it's all about qualifications, yeah first aid and food hygiene is important as well as getting the right nanny/car insurance! But I've been a nanny for 2 years now and worked in a nursery for 2 years prior to that but had a similar experience as above! Also been babysitting and football coach young children for a total of 7 years now. But personally i would much rather have someone with years of experience looking after my children than someone who has just finished there level 3 and not Had any hands on experience! If you and your child like her then give her a go! She'd probably be better than some qualified nannys out there! Also regarding pay im payed just as much as my 'qualified' nanny friends, although am looking into doing my level 3 so I can become ofstead registered. Give her a go :-)

Sorry to hijack this thread. I have been toying with the idea of getting a nanny as I have 3 children under 6. My thinking was to employ someone on a self employed basis to avoid all the tax stuff. Is this possible?

yellow in 99% of cases, no it's not legal for a nanny to be SE. A nanny comes with a whole bunch of conveniences but also obligations, namely becoming an employer.

You can outsource a lot of that management to a payroll company though.

Ditto fraktion.

NannyGR you don't need a Level 3 to register as a Nanny, you just need Common Core Skills training like this one.

Hi. I would like some advise. I am a mother of two girls (14 and 7) and currently working as a volunteer in a primary school as a TA. I have worked briefly in a nursery a couple of years ago. I am now unemployed and in receipt of benefits (unfortunately) and I have just been approached by someone I worked with at school, who just had twin babies, to help her in the house, with the babies.

I am not a qualified child minder or nanny, but being a mum I have a pretty good experience! This lady knows me and trusts me. I am considering accepting her offer but I do not have a clue about how much I should charge per hour.

Can you please advise? Thank you so much.

Elisa - I would expect to pay you somewhere around £7-8.50 per hour. Depends where you are though. She should employ you legally, as detailed above.

I've just employed an "unqualified nanny" for 2 afternoons a week for my DDs who are 3 1/2 and 6 months. She's in her 40s, a mother and grandmother and has worked as a carer for people with learning disabilities and autism for the past 15yrs so her skills are transferable and most imprtantly she is warm, loving and creative. She doesn't have any childcare certificates (well she'll have paediatric first aid after this week as I'm sending her on the course) but she's infinitely better IMHO than someone who has all the tickets but none of the people/childhandling skills