URGENT - we have 2 weeks to find and employ a new nanny

[PacificDogwood]

Aaaaaargh!

Our nanny/housekeeper of almost 3 years has sent her resignation while we were on holiday.
We have posted some online ads and have had some responses, but I am really only today picking up the baton properly as we have had no reliable internet access while away.

Anyway, I cannot remember how to do this and would be grateful if I could have my hand held a bit:

• What is an acceptable pay for a live-out nanny in a suburban location in the Central Belt of Scotland? I know of course what we are currently paying, but I am not sure that I am up to date with developments.
• The job is for 35 hrs/week, 2 long and 2 short days. We have 4 boys, aged between 11 and 4. The older 3 are at school, the wee one in nursery for 3 hrs/day. We have no other help from family etc for childcare so this needs to be ironclad/belts+braces. If either my DH or I have to stay at home at short notice dozens of people are at best inconveniences, at worst have their health care compromised.
• Any additional babysitting etc we of course pay extra.

I am still quite shocked that our nanny is leaving us (I have not spoken to her yet - will do tomorrow) and quite sad as I did not see this coming.

Sigh.

Any help much appreciated x.

oic :)

hope you find someone soon, obv the job spec has changed from 3 years ago, ie your youngest would have been a baby and needing full time care

is scotland diff in school< ie if youngest is 4 now next month in sept he will be at fulltime school yet you say 3hrs a day

Blondes Scotland school different go back Aug and cut off is April bday turning 4 n Jan-Apr bday can choose to delay a yr as well means children are at least 4 n a bit when they start school unlike here where my monkey will be 4 n a few days old.

Dog- good luck with your search I know it's already hectic with 4 children but a nanny with own child could be an option??

ah, that makes sense

they should bring back jan/easter intakes, so that if aug bday you dont need to start school at 4 and 1 week

Well, we were torn between 2 good candidates, about to offer the position to one tonight - and now we have wild card!
We'll meet her tonight and see.

Yes, DS4 is spring born so will start school next August aged 5.5. I love the Scottish system - he is very young for his age and nowhere near ready for school. Hopefully 12 months will help.

Oh, and yes, one of the first 2 nannies may want to bring one of her own children from time to time - that would be absolutely fine with us. By the times there is 4 noisy boys, another little one would hardly make a difference

wild card is good and agree if have 4 whats another one :)

weird school system, as my last charge bday was beg sept, so missed school year and was rising 5 and so ready and desperate to go to school, and would have been fine to go and just 4, yet others arent, if they did a jan/easter intake then all kids would start at 4.5

Yes, I agree, there really ought to be more flexibility - it so depends on each individual child. But that's another thread - or in fact has been done to death on MN

Who/what is the wild card nanny

Dh and I are both in love with the Wild Card….
Job offered and accepted.

We've all agreed we need a night's sleep to cool off. I will speak to her by phone tomorrow to make sure she has not changed her mind (I don't think that we will).

What made her a "wild card" ?

I am pleased you've found someone.why did you think her a wild card?

She came along at the 11th hour - we were literally about to appoint somebody we had interviewed and to decline the others when she responded to one of my ads
This is almost exactly what happened the last time we recruited - weird.

She's available immediately, my boys are all excited, we'll get a chance to do a bit of a gentle handover as our current nanny is still with us until the end of next week and the payroll people tell me they can sort out the paperwork for both of them in time.

Ack - liability insurance: are we insured as employers or will the insurance company have our new nanny's details? I'll ring them in the morning - added to me list of things to do.

Thanks for all the handholding. You are more than entitled to be nosy

If your employers liability insurance is part of your home insurance policy, then the insurer probably does not need to know specifically whom the employee is, though always a good idea to let them know of changes. What they, or the broker, does with the info is then up to them, you have done your bit by disclosing a change which may or may not affect the risk.

Insurance in Scotland is not different to England? I seem to think it's places like Northern Ireland, IOM, that differ. Least whenever I see insurance ads on tv it says something like Excludes N.I.

Wild card sound promising. Did they respond to a local ad, internet ad, or something else? Always wonder what advertising does end up finding the right candidate.

Internet ad - believe it or not, Gumtree
Childcare.co.uk has thrown up some good candidates, but Gumtree far more
Same thing happened 3 years ago when we last recruited.

It helps that I have known the wild card v superficially before and that she comes with a very reassuring background - gawd, that sounds all snobby and it is not. We live in a small town and there is only 2 degrees of separation here

"This is almost exactly what happened the last time we recruited - weird."

I was a nanny for someone whose brother had two nannies and both of them crashed the car in the first week. They were great nannies so took it as a good sign when the third nanny did exactly the same!

With regards to notice period I have had 3 months in all mine and it worked fine. I always stayed in jobs for a long time so any initial worries about buggering off before the notice was worked were obviously gone by the time of giving notice as a good relationship[ had been built up.