Another thing...Foreign nannies

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I have interviewed three foreign nannies this week who have all been amazing. They have great references and on gut reaction I felt I could employ two of them definitely. Does anyone have any thoughts to offer me. Do you think they should really come through an agency or hold some sort of english qualification? The other issue is them not being registered under the childcare voucher scheme. Is this a hassle?

Finally is £9 an hour the going rate or is this significantly lower than the norm because of the above points?

Thanks guys- I really am dithering around about this because I had always expected I would go the way of nurseries for my little one.

Catherine

I would speak to the referees if at all possible. I don't think an agency adds anything other than possibly they may check the refs as well. As for the hourly rate, that depends on age and experience as well as the location. I'm assuming that it is a gross rate (you need to be clear on this with the nanny, as it used to be common for them to be quoted a net rate). My nanny is 22 and is on £8ph gross for Outer London.

I'm in outer London and going rate is slightly lower than it was last year! Last year agencies were quoting 400per week net minimum. and now it's 350-400. Both are less than £9 per hour for 10 hour days.
An awful lot of UK nannys aren't registered by surestart either. The minimum required is a first aid qualification (cost about 75-150 from St john's ambulance etc), and an 'induction' course (costs about £145 by distance learning or for 2 day course), plus the CRB check and paperwork by surestart (costs about £100) - it's achievable but it's a bit of an annoyance and the CRB bit can take months for nannys from overseas.