need some advice about Ofsted and wtc and vouchers for nannies

[abitoutofmydepth]

I'm a first time nanny employer and am a bit lost working through all this, hope someone might be able to help me

I have found a great nanny, she isn't Ofsted registered. She is prepared to be, but I'm not sure she can be as a) She doesn't have childcare qualifications b) she doesn't have previous nanny / nursery work experience (lots of other relevant experience though). Will this stop he being registered? I would organise and pay for a first aid course.

Who usually pays for Ofsted registration and dbs check- nanny or employer?

If I don't qualify for working tax credits (I don't think I do as I earn just over 40k, but am a single parent) I assume I wouldn't qualify for any help with childcare costs?

Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, I'm a bit lost.

Hi, she needs to do a common core skills course. They are run all over the country, take 8 hours, roughly and cost around £80. She will need a DBS but OFSTED will do that when you start the registration. Costs around £50. She doesn't need experience, just the common cores. She will need a paediatric first aid certificate. Tigerlily runs one that is 6 hours long and is accepted by OFSTED, however, there is a 12 hour course that is run all over the country. She will also need nanny insurance, there are various companies that provide this. I use Morton Michel. Costs £71 per year but once OFSTED registered it is around £60 I think.

She definitely needs to pay for her insurance as if you need to make a claim, it would be classed as a conflict of interest and they may not pay out if you paid for it or reimbursed her. The rest is up to you. I always pay for my first aid as it is in my interest to have it (needs to be renewed every three years) but my employers pay for my DBS and OFSTED registration as there is no benefit to me in being registered.

Getting registered takes forever (3.5 months for us) but they back date the vouchers to the start (with proof that you are employing her, pay slips etc)

My employers earn way more than double what you earn per year and they still qualify so hopefully you will too.

Good luck!

Vouchers aren't means tested, they are a tax free scheme, deducted from your wages, if you ask your employers, someone will be able to advise you.

PP answered all your other questions I think. It does take a while from start to finish, DBS itself can take 6 weeks! If you have three months in mind, it won't be much more or less than that!

DBS check cost has increased, anyone registering with Ofsted as of 1st September 2014 has to have the DBS Update service, which adds £13 a year.

abitoutofmydepth - with an income of over £40k, if you have 1 child, then I don't think it is worth claiming WTC as the amount you would get, if anything would be so low (under £640 a year).
Working Tax Credit - Entitlement Table - 2014 - Working at least 16 hours and paying childcare

With 2 children and childcare cost of over £300 a week, then you may get £5000-£7000 looking at the table. So now it's worth claiming. Work out what your childcare costs are likely to be and use a calculator like EntitledTo to see what benefits you are able to claim.

Childcare Vouchers (from your Employer) are the other thing to look at. Savings for a Higher Rate Taxpayer are not that high, Savings Table, looks like £623 saving a year.

The scheme is being changed from Sept 2015 (it is being phased in) and you may get a bigger saving under the new scheme as it is a saving of up to £2000 per child.

I would suggest that if you have one child, look at Childcare Vouchers from your employer.
If you have 2 or more children, then use a benefits calculator to see if it is worth applying to HMRC for the Childcare Element of Working Tax Credit.

Thanks so much all of you, that is amazingly helpful - I do appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me