Interviewing for PT nannies today & tomorrow.. HELP!

[marypoppinsneeded]

Due to unforeseen circumstances (my arranged childcare - as in my mother- fell through) am having to arrange this for as soon as poss. 11mo for 2.5 days a week on a temporary (3month) basis with the possibility of permanent at the end of that period. Have advertised on childcare.co.uk & gumtree and have had some responses so will be interviewing today. Have my list of questions from advice on here at the ready!

A few things which I could really do with some guidance on are the following as it's more confusing to me than astrophysics for some reason:
I assume as it will be 2.5 days a week (with flexibility for 3 days or 3.5) I will be the employer so will be responsible for all the tax/NI. What is it I discuss at interview, gross or net pay? Also, I'm in Oxford and am seeing people ranging from few qualifications to over 15 years. Any idea of pay scales- thinking £7 - £11 ? But please, please, someone give me an idiots guide to the salary and how it would work with me being the employer. Also things like paid holiday/ SS/SMP etc. Does it make any difference being a temporary thing for three months?

My flat isn't very big at all so am a bit and hope that the potential nannies won't be put off- as in I don't know how much space is necessary etc..

Sorry for rambling, but it's all been a whirlwind trying to sort this out and with no prior experience of even looking, it's a bit of a nightmare trying to know what to do.

Also, if anyone knows a nanny in the oxford area looking for PT work, then get in touch!

Please discuss salary as gross as their tax code may change the gross amount ie what you pay, if you agree a net value. I am not your area but in another city outside of london and I pay £10.50 gross per hour. You need to know what you can afford before negotiating salary. You will need to operate paye so will pay her tax, ni and employers ni. Depending on the nanny you will need to agree a kitty amount to cover activities they willdo with your child. Also find out your parenting styles match. Does the nanny spend lots of time in playdates and uses this for her social company. Is she more creative and does lots if crafts. Will she take your child to play groups, soft play, play grounds etc. Also how will they get about so will she use her car and you pay mileage rates or are you supplying a car etc. Lots to talk about!

You MUST do gross pay. You are the nanny's employer for this job As long as you agree a gross salary, and have a proper contract, then you are not responsible for her tax affairs from any other job she has.

I have a part time nanny (2 days a week). She has another job for the other 3 days. The jobs are entirely separate, both I and the other mum (whom I know) has agreed a gross salary and signed a separate contract with her regarding our own job. We don't need to know anything about each other's jobs, and we are not responsible for the nanny's tax affairs - just for paying the employer's tax and NI regarding our own job.

When interviewing, I was strongly guided by the rapport built between nanny and children. We hired the one who sat on the floor and played with the children, not the ones who sat on the sofa and ignored them while they chatted to us. However, I went through an agency so all the candidates were pre-vetted. Obviously you need to do very thorough reference checks / CRB checks yourself for any nanny you get through informal sources.

Be aware that employer's tax and NI (which you pay directly to HMRC every 3 months) is about 33% of the nanny's salary, on top of the salary you pay them. Also, you must pay holiday (our nanny gets 4 weeks a year, pro-rata), and decide what you are doing about sickness (our contract says SSP only, although our nanny is so infrequently ill that I top it up to full pay on the occasions that she is).

I expect there are sample contracts online, download one and go through it to make sure all the standard situations (holiday, sick pay, maternity etc) are covered.

Think about any boundaries you have that may not be universal (e.g. we had a rule about no TV) and make sure those are discussed at interview.

How will the flexibility thing (for an extra day a week) work if your nanny gets another job? That needs to be carefully discussed. Nannies may be very keen to get the job and say it is no problem, but once they've got your job, they will probably need to look for one to go alongside it.

We pay £8.50 gross per hour, but are in the north, so probably you'd need to pay more.

Do you need nanny to be able to drive? If you're in Oxford itself, you might not. We hired a non-driver, and I think she is especially loyal to our job because it would be harder for her to get another one (most would require driving).

Think about whether you want the nanny to be Ofsted registered. If you can get childcare vouchers from work, then she will need to be - you can offer to pay / part-pay for the process.

Also, check that your home insurance covers employer's liability. I think most do, but you have to inform them. That, I believe, covers you if the nanny injures herself in your house.

Also, think about whether you want the nanny to insure herself against your children being injured in her care - if so, you may need to offer to cover the premium - not that much IME. The advantage of that is that in the terrible and unlikely event of a life-altering accident to your child, then there would be a pot of money to help provide for their care.

You could also choose to go through a nanny payroll to make life easy for yourself. I use nannytax - expensive (i think I have to pay about £200 a year) but they make life blessedly simple and save me time.

Brilliant advice. Thank you.

I assume that it being a temporary contract at least initially doesn't change anything with regards to being the employer and liabilities?

I'm not a lawyer, but I wouldn't have thought so marypoppins.

I don't think so either. All the same employer duties apply.

You can do a fixed term contract, put in start date and finish date. Then you can decide to renew that contract or not at the end. If renewing, redo the contract with the new end date. The previous contract will count as continuous period of employment.

Decide how much you want to pay. Is salary really negotiable? In my view it is better to advertise the job at the salary level, then applicants who want more with luck won't apply.

The flexibility for 3/3.5 days thing may cause issues, in particular with regard to holiday entitlement and payroll. Talk to payroll providers about that, as you will need to notify them by a certain point in the month of that months hours worked for them to generate the payslip.

Holiday entitlement you would probably do on a 12.07% of hours worked.
Make a list of the holiday dates you already know you need them to take their leave... for example, bank holidays that fall during the working period. As you are recruiting this time of year, factor in what happens over Christmas - depending on their start date, 3 months may be up by then, or it may not.
Make sure they take the holiday during their 3 months employment. I think on a short contract like that, un-taken holiday could be paid upon termination but you should try to let them take some holiday during their employment.

SSP (sick pay) has rules, so cross that bridge when it comes to your employee being off sick for a period of 4 consecutive days (need not all be working days).

Flat may put some nannies off, though not others. Some people like tidy places, others are happy with a bit of mess, it really depends on the applicant. Don't change how you are to make a good impression on them, let them see things as they will be.

Do bear in mind that you can't offer to cover the premium for your nanny's insurance, but you could give a pay increase that would be equivalent to the £70odd each year it will cost. If the payment can be traced to you the insurer could call fraud and refuse to pay out - you can't claim against yourself.