Employing a nanny - a couple of questions

[Takeitornot]

I have DT's and am due back at work in November. Realistically when do you think we should start looking for a nanny, is now too soon?

Also where we live is permit parking only, although there are a couple of car parks within 5 minutes walk. Would you provide visitor parking permits to allow a nanny to park outside? This would potentially cost in the order of £80 a month. We could potentially offer a limited number of parking permits as a halfway compromise? We would not be asking the nanny to use her own car with the DT's at all, there is lots to do within walking distance and would put her on the insurance of my car.

Thanks.

Start looking now with a view to having agreed contract by Sept/Oct. You may find someone quickly or it may take a few months. Some may know that their current job is ending, others may be deciding to leave their current job and will need to give a month or sometimes more notice.

Parking permits are a pain, some boroughs do not let you hve permits for a nanny, so check to see what you are able to get.

If there is a local car park which always has space, that may work. Though what is the cost of the carpark? Keep in mind that nanny may be coming and going quite a bit so if car park has restrictions on how long between visits that may be a problem.

To be honest, parking is one thing I look at when considering a job and any hassle over parking and I will look elsewhere. So find a solution to parking before you advertise the job, so you can tell nannies what will happen.

Are you near a tube/train station? Put details of that in an ad. Try to make the job appeal to someone local who does not need to use a car to get to work.

We would only be able to get visitor parking permits. We are about 15 mins walk from the train station but I would have thought driving would be preferable as we would need someone from 7am to 6pm. The nanny would not need to drive anywhere in the day and if she did I would prefer that she used our car.

Are you in London or another big city? That may help as there may be more people in your local area who know the parking situation and will be happy to walk/come by bus/train.

Early start though, especially in Winter may be an issue, though perhaps that is where the visitor permits are useful.

I think you will significantly limit your potential nanny pool if you don't offer parking tbh. If you were close to a station/bus route it would be ok, but an early start and a 15 min walk isn't ideal.

I'd add 80 a month on when you're working out your budget. If you get a nanny who doesn't drive, you've saves 80 a month.

It depends on where you live - if you're in London it won't affect things at all and most people wouldn't drive to work anyway.

Outside London you may find it more difficult.

I'm sure that there is a website though where people rent out car parking spaces on their properties - its maybe worth looking at something like that before you advertise.