Nanny pay advice please

[droopymummy]

New to posting, and to this nanny game - dd has always been at nursery, but arrival of ds, house move, different jobs etc.etc., all mean that we have decided nanny is the solution for us.

How will we know how much to offer to pay? \how much holiday? What happens if she gets sick (from pay point of view) and what if she gets pregnant? Does any of that change with time?

We live in Bucks, want live-out, 4 days per week, varying from 8-12 hours/day, prob total 40 hrs per week, looking after our 2 kids.

We aim to be good employers and hope nanny will want to be good employee! We would like to include a day or two of professional study in the job, and aim to develop flexible, friendly rapport with nanny.

Any suggestions very welcome, or pointers to previous posts or other sites which might give me the necessary advice.

Many thanks to you all in advance.

[NannyL]

hello!

have yo had a look at nannyjob which has lots of information you might want to know in the employment section and nannytax which will tell you about pay / ssp / maternity pay etc. I understand that they also have a phone line that you can call to ask about anything to do with nannying...

i would imagine in your area for 4 days paying around the £300 nett mark (= about £21k ish gross if i remember rightly... + your employers NI contributions.

nannys are entitled to maternity pay etc the same as any other normally employed person (though you as an employer can claim it all back (+ a TINY bit mroe im led to believe) but basically the same job has to be open for her when she decides to come off maternty leave.

As for sick pay most nannies i know only have SSP in contract (including myself) (which i understand is a good idea from a parents point of view.... however in the unlikely event that we have had a day off sick we have been paid in full regardless. (it just means that if you get someone who calls in sick for every cold and sniffle you are covered!) (i have only ever had 2 days off sick in 7 years nannying.... and that was when the doctor refused to allow me to drive cause I had a very badly infected hand!)

As for holiday 4 weeks is the norm... 2 weeks chosen by nanny 2 weeks chosen by employer...

BUT as an employer you can choose the lot if you want (just dont expect any nannies to take the job!) and it can include bank holidays.... but again dont expect anyone to want to work for you...

so the norm is 4 weeks, choose half each + bank holds... + most nannies get the Xmas / new year period off as well.

(also although that is what is in most nannies contracts, all the nannies i know work for proffessional people who get alot more than 4 weeks holiday per year... and most employers give their nannies the same amount of holiday as themselves (with the exception of they may use a day of their holiday shopping without the kids etc!... but then those days off are 'bonus' days to the nanny! and not in the contract IUSWIM

Good luck finding a nanny... you sound like nice people to work for!

Also dont necesarily go through agencies.... i dont know many nannies (or parents) who have been impressed with the service (or lack of!) they recieve through agencies...

you can advertise on nannyjob / nannyselect.co.uk (and most of us nannies look there as well when looking for jobs... for free (or a very small charge... alot less than the £100s (or even into the £1000s you pay for an agency )

just be sure to check the nannies references / qualifications etc your
self (which im sure any sensible parenst would do regardless!)

[hoxohoxohoxo]

there's loads on nannys on other threads. search under nanny or bluebear,
hope that helps

[ParanoidSurreyHousewife]

Always phone referees. Go with your instincts at an interview but never rely just on a written reference.

Around £8 - £10 ph (gross) seems to be the going rate for live-out qualified nanny in this area.

[droopymummy]

Thanks very much NannyL - that's really helpful for a new starter like me!

hoxohoxohoxo - I had tried searching, but not found anything helpful, and I am afraid I still can't - any specific suggestions?

I will definitely phone the referrees - the only one we like so far seems to have excellent paper refs - in fact the only problem with her is that she comes via an agency who want to charge us 4 weeks' of her pay for a fee... She seems great, but I am just not sure she is that great!

Thank you all.

[Bluebear]

try searching under my posting name- bluebear in the topic Childminders, nannies, au pairs etc I've covered a lot of this ground before.
Haven't got time for a long post now - will try tomorrow

[uwila]

They want 4 weeks salary for an agency fee. No way would I pay that. Agency=devil in my book.

You can also search on my name. I frequent the nanny threads.

My contract has SSP (as nannl suggests). I would only ever hold back the nanny's pay if 1- I thought she was taking the mick or 2- I couldn't afford to pay her and back up childcare.

Nanny and I sit down at the start of the year and agree her holiday. She does not get free reign to pick any two weeks she likes. But, I do try to accommodate if at al possile. Her bank holidays do count towards her holiday. But, then if I decided to take a day off work for other occassions I try to pass it on and give her the day off as well. So, she probably gets her four weeks at the end of the year.

This may sound mean, but if I gave her four weeks plus bank hols, then I would have nothing left to take when she is sick, and then I would have to hold her to the SSP offering in the contract.