When is a nanny considered to be experienced?

[dollybirdy]

I'm thinking about offering a nice 24-year old Spanish girl the job as nanny to my two dc (3.5 years and 1 year). From my research on here, it seems the going rate for an experienced nanny is around £10-12 net per hour. Our nanny has been an au pair for the last 12 months and so I'm not sure you could say she is experienced. Do you think it would be reasonable to offer her £10 per hour gross (£8.80 net)? I am based in SW London and it will be based on 9 hours per day, 3 days per week. She has asked to take a long holiday in the summer - how would you respond to this (I will have to find alternative childcare cover)?

I would say she has no nanny experience, so £10 gross an hour sounds fine.

Surely you will have to find cover whenever she takes her holiday (5.6 weeks a year - so 17 days) - is it the length of the holiday or the timing that is the problem for you? Could you agree to choose half the holiday each?

I would look at amount of sole charge care she had done. Would also look at what was affordable and what someone would need to earn to live in the area or within reasonable commute. Then look at market forces - what other jobs pay.

I think 10 gross is fine to offer, possibly on the generous side but then you are in London where salaries are higher than elsewhere.

Long holiday - unpaid leave? Work out how much annual leave she would get, work out the days you would insist she takes, such as over any specific times you take holiday.

Can you cover all the time off requested? Is getting a temp childcarer practical? Could this be the deal breaker... any other applicants for the job?

Sadly haven't seen any other candidates that I'm keen on, and I have been looking and interviewing for several weeks. She gets a glowing endorsement from the family where she has been working as au pair.

She says she has been a sole charge nanny for almost 5 years in Spain, but during that period she was doing other work (teaching assistant etc), and so the nanny position wasn't full-time.

Re holidays, she wants to take off considerable time in the summer - perhaps all of August. I guess she can take some of the days from her annual allocation and the rest will be unpaid leave. Is it reasonable to ask a nanny to take their holiday when we take ours, or can they take it whenever they wish?

Thanks for your help - this is all new to me.

normally the entitlement is halved, and parents choose one half's dates.and.the nanny the other half's dates!

Usual practice is half your choice, half nanny's choice. So maybe something like 5 days definitely off over Christmas/NY and then you choose 2 weeks/6 days and she chooses 2 weeks/6 days?

where in London.are you..

There will be a good few nannies available in August because kids are off school.

You could try. - likeminders - They are a agency, they will more than likely find you someone to work that month for £7.50 an hour, and the nanny pays there own.tax and insurance.

Have you tried

childcare.com
greatcare.com
babysitter.co.uk
care.com

Great info, thank you.

I'm in Barnes and so will check out Likeminders.

So you all think £10/hr gross sounds OK?

Is this actually a nanny or a babysitter? A nanny is qualified.

A nanny doesn't have to be qualified - many aren't.

I was on Childcare.co.uk and met a lot of time-wasters. Two nannies stood me up and couldn't be bothered to get back to me when I contacted them to ask then whether they were still available to meet. I've found the whole process of finding a nanny very frustrating.

One Sleep - the role I'm offering is a nanny role (I think!). Basically I want a lovely, trustworthy person with some experience to look after my children 3 days a week.

I find the more experienced nannies hang out on nannyjob.co.uk which is another site that hasn't been mentioned. I recruited both mine from there.

You should be able to find a temp for August - student doing a childcare related degree, teacher, nanny who works term time only. It's whether you want the hassle.

Im an experienced nanny

I use nannyjob.co.uk and agencies

I am a qualified, v experienced nanny. I have used both nannyjob.co.uk and childcare.co.uk with success .

I say experienced is sole charge for 5 years. Most of the 'good' nanny agencies won't have people on their books with less than that