Nanny hiring help please :)

[wehappyfew]

After being on an extended maternity leave I have started looking for work. I have a wonderful 18month old and I want to have him cared for by a nanny. I have a few questions and I hope someone can help?

1. How long does it take to hire a nanny? If i take up a contract role it may start within a few weeks.
2. What is a realistic gross yearly salary? We are in a village near reading. Long commute so hours may be long - worst case 7-6.30.
3. dc wil be in nursery or pre school for 2 mornings a week. Maybe 3. Is it reasonable to ask nanny to housekeep during one of those mornings and then have the morning off on the other one (after she has dropped him off)?
4. If self employed can I pay nanny through company?

Thanks so much and sorry for long post!

1. varies, may not be any nannies you like, some you like may not want your job for various reasons - most nannies employed have 4/6/8 weeks notice so tbh i would start searching 3mths before you need someone, giving you a month to interview, check ref, interview again , offer job and do contract and then nanny can give motice

1. again varies on exp and age of nanny, i have 21 years exp and will be at the top expensive range £13 gross where as you can employ a younger/less qual nanny for much lessm as long as you offer nmw which is just over £6ph

1. some nannies are happy to do housework, others (like me arent) but would happily do children/nursery duties in that time - morning off is nice , assume it will be paid?

1. perm nannies cant be self employed

whoops posted too early

why will your 18mth old go to nursery 2/3 times a week if you have a nanny?

1. How long does it take to hire a nanny?

Varies, I would say that it will be weeks, possibly a month or more. It will depend on if the candidate(s) are already in a job, thus have to give notice.

1. What is a realistic gross yearly salary? We are in a village near reading. Long commute so hours may be long - worst case 7-6.30.

I'm in that sort of area... well near Woking but it's general area... South East, Outside of London, Village rather than city location.
I would say my usual figure of £10 gross an hour is a ball park, round up a bit, probably around £31,000. So it could depending on what you can afford be anything from £25,000 to £35,000 gross salary. Plus remember that you need to add on your additional costs (Employers NI, payroll admin, activities budget, mileage budget or providing a car, food whilst on duty, etc).

1. dc wil be in nursery or pre school for 2 mornings a week. Maybe 3. Is it reasonable to ask nanny to housekeep during one of those mornings and then have the morning off on the other one (after she has dropped him off)?

Why use Nursery or Pre-School. Funding does not start until the term following his 3rd Birthday. Nanny could do household tasks whilst also looking after him.
Have a morning off - do you mean without pay? What if nursery was not open, he was unwell but not unwell enough for you to stay at home?

1. If self employed can I pay nanny through company? No. (MrAnchovy may be able to give a more detailed answer than that but I believe the answer is No).

Thank you both for the quick response! He is in nursery one day a week at the moment while I job hunt and is liking it I think. Also i just assumed he would go to lovely village pre school in september... But open to opinions on wether this is actually necessary. Also thought job may be more attractive with some time off as hours are so long.
25,000 - 28 sounds great, but would that mean less quality? Also are nanny/housekeepers paid more?

Sorry another thing! I am unsure of start date, I may get a job in 1 month or may be 5! Is it worth starting now anyway?

No how much mobey you offer I don't feel means you get a better/worse nanny. It depends on the nannies personal circumstances. I know I could get more working elsewhere but I don't want a long commute, especially when doing 12 hour working days.
Nannies often care for 2, 3, 4 or more children so having just one child may make the job more attractive.

Not sure you can advertise a job which may not exist - unless you mean having a nanny whilst you job hunt.

Do you need a housekeeper? Having a cleaner come for a few hours once a week, then nanny keeping on top of things may well be sufficient... or do you live in a huge house?

Q4 - I assumed you meant you were self employed. A permanent nanny will be your employee not the company for whom you work.

No not huge house ;) We have a cleaner but I thought that it may make sense for nanny to do it instead?

Well if I do contract/freelance I will be self employed and set up my own ltd. thought maybe there would be tax benefits paying nanny through that?

Village preschool a couple of mornings a week could work well but your nanny would usually still be employed at the same time unless you were at home those mornings.

I am fairly flexible and do a midday start some days and could cover the full day with sufficient notice. However not everyone is as flexible as that and when starting a new job (I've been in mine over 4 years) people I feel will want a more fixed working schedule. Once they have been with you many years, you will have a bond of trust between you so each party I feel becomes more flexible to an extent as long as it suits the people involved. Contracted weekly hours remains the same, just when the work is done gets varied.

Your proposed hours are long, so not much room on flexibility.

Nannies are good with children. Finding one who is also good at cleaning may be hard. I would suggest keeping cleaner 3-4 hours a week and recruit a nanny rather than nanny/housekeeper.

Thank you soooooo helpful.

I agree with Nick about keeping the cleaner. Most nannies don't want to clean and this would limit the number/quality of applicants.

Nanny could do nursery duties during the time your DS is at preschool though, this covers things like DS's laundry, changing DS's bed, sewing in name labels, shopping, running errands, organising birthday party/playdates etc, wrapping presents, cooking extra meals for the freezer etc.

You do need a start date, you'll be very lucky to find a nanny who is happy to accept a job and then wait around for a start date that may be 1 month or 5!

As you've only got one child you may want to look into a nanny share, you do need to compromise a bit, but would massively cut your childcare bill and may offer you a bit more flexibility.