How does it work hiring a nanny?

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

I am very new to this and totally clueless - really hoping you can all advise me how the whole employing a nanny thing goes?

I have discovered that Student finance will pay towards an ofstead registered nanny. I will have 4 DC aged 0-7 and need 3 full or 4 short days a week in term time only. Would anyone actually want to look after that many for that sort of time table? How much would this cost? I keep seeing lots of net figures on here? whats that about? Will I have to be a proper employer - as in pay the NIC and PAYE etc.. is this complicated? how does holiday leave work if I need term times always covered?

sorry for so many Q's - I don't know where to start!
TIA

If you sign up to Nannytax or equivalent they will answer most of your questions. Generally nannies think of their salary in net terms (ie after tax) whereas you will be paying them gross so this is the key figure to understand. Re your required days/hours, you will just have to make this clear in your ad. Is there a local Facebook group for mums/parents? You can often get recommendations from other local mums, plus lots of nannies/childminders will advertise there or at least check posts.

Good luck!

Thank you for that, I will have a look :)

Does Student Finance cap the amount they will pay? I expect there is an upper limit. Find out about any limits there are before you proceed with anything else.

FYI, working tax credits is capped at 70% of £300 per week. Student finance may have a similar cap, or it may be different, but I expect there will be a max amount they would pay towards things.

What would you expect the hours of work to be for Full Day, Short Day?

Yes nannies do jobs which are 3 days a week. Some will do term time only, others will not as it does not give all year round income.

Location can affect cost. City is usually higher than countryside.
Look at local job listings to see what other nannying jobs are offering. £8-£12 gross per hour can be the range, with lower/higher possible in some areas. Avoid Net figures as they don't help you... many more nannies these days do understand gross and have internet access so can ask on here and other places how to calculate likely take home pay.

Yes you would need to do PAYE, you are the employer. Payroll companies start from around £100 a year, depending on your need.

There are additional costs beyond the salary, such as employers NI, nanny transporting your children if you need someone to use their own car / cost of public transport or you providing car, activities/outings budget, food & drink, heating & lighting, the usual costs of being at home during part/all the day.

Think this may be the initial claim form, for 2014/15. Not much detail on it about max claim amount. Not sure how you would break down paying for a nanny into a per child per week amount.
The form does not seem very friendly towards using a nanny, whilst legally it is possible to use a nanny it may mean having to complete additional info sections on forms.

Looks like cap is 257.55 - Childcare Grant 2014/15 or 85% of cost (which I suspect means Gross salary plus Employers NI, as that is what WTC permits as cost) whichever is less.

So you will always need to find 15% of the cost yourself, regardless of provider type used or amount paid.

Childcare grant is for Full Time students. So if you only need childcare 3 perhaps 4 days, what happens the other days? Are you classified as being a full time student, or is the course part time?

Wow! thank you so much for all that info!
Yes I am a full time student doing history degree, but contact is only 15 hours max... study is still 40 plus. I hadn't actually got as far as thinking about how the days/hours would split... but from the info you have given me I don't think I will be able to afford it anyway. Looks like it will end up more expensive that a nursery.

Thankyou very much for your help.

May depend how many of your children are at school and cost of before/after school care. If in college time clashes with school pickup then look at childminders, afterschool clubs, or nanny.

Keep in mind that nanny cost is for care of all the children, not per child. So is more cost effective when all 4 children need childcare.

There are no childminders that cover our school, and the BSC and ASC are not reliable and often shut without notice as its not used by working parents here, its just like a youth club really for little ones. We aren't in the sticks, just a bit of a no mans land between areas I think.

The nurseries don't do before or after school pick up either actually I have just discovered so that's out too.

Time to reassess I think, Open University may have to be the way forward. Thank you again.

OU is possible. Tutorials are often online though some may be a weekend. Can the childrens father care for them?

Look into options. Talk to student finance about what you qualify for in tuition fee help, childcare help.

DH works 12 hours a day so no use with dropping or collecting at the moment, but he is desperately trying to find something else that will help bless him. I think I might actually look at moving schools to a different area, I cant not work for the next 11 years while they all go through primary, its driving me crazy! and if the provision here is so bad we will have to move at some point anyway. I really appreciate the help here btw, its made me really look at options rather than coasting like I have been. I am going to approach a few different settings/nannies/school and get some real costings worked out.

I love my Uni and really don't want to have to quit.

You could get an after school nanny only, would that help?