Live - in nanny/housekeeper

[Mena24]

Hi, I am relatively new in London. I have two children and will start working full time again soon. I was wondering, how common is it to have a live-in nanny / housekeeper in the UK. Where I'm from it is very common practice, but here, none of my friends do. A few of my husband's co-workers have live-out nannys. Any advice of where to look? Also, it would be a great plus if she was a Spanish speaker as my children are just learning the language. Any info would be a great help.

Live-out nannies are more common than live-in but there are certainly live-in nanny jobs available, especially in central London. Just seen one advertised to care for a baby in Kensington which is paying around £650 gross per week for live-in or around £900 gross per week for live-out.

A nanny/housekeeper may be different, as people tend to be good at childcare or good at house management, finding someone good at both and who can juggle both jobs is harder to find. Try to define clearly in adverts what it is that you are seeking. Agencies maybe able to assist, there are quite a lot of agencies in London and surrounding area.

It's not common here, but it does exist as a role. Try googling for agencies in London for nanny housekeepers, I know some of them
offer that.

Thank you, both :)

www.edenprivatestaff.com/jobs/job-category/nannyhousekeepers/nannyhousekeeper-live-in/

Maybe contact these? They always seem to have lots of jobs for live in nanny housekeepers all around the UK and in London.

or maybe

www.littleoneslondon.co.uk/nannies/nanny-housekeeper/spanish/?candidate_search_type=nanny-housekeeper&candidate_search_language=spanish

Nanny + housekeeper is a tough job! Are the children at home all the time or at school?

I know lots of families with nannies and lots with housekeepers but few who combine the role although there is the odd exception - usually if the family is happy with a nanny whose English isn't very fluent then they have that person also work as a housekeeper type role.

Mostly though I've seen Sometimes nanny is in charge of other household staff and general running of household if the children are in school.

Mostly I see families with nannies who have moderate housekeeping responsibilities and the family have a cleaner. Or the family have a nanny and a housekeeper/cleaner that are separate roles.

I had a nanny and a housekeeper/cleaner and I had clearly defined roles / responsibilities for both.

This is just my area though and rough observation.

Hi again, both my children are at school until 3 in the afternoon.
I would need someone to prepare them for school and pick them up. Do some light cleaning while they are away.
Thank you, for the information, it is important to learn a bit more about how things work here.
For example, how well defined the tasks need to be, established hours, etc. Back home the regulations are not clear either for employer or employee and that is a problem.
Thank you for the links DorothyGherkins
Someone just recommended me a girl who is not coming from an agency and though she came with a great reference, I am still not sure if it’s ok or even legal to employ without an agency.

In the U.K. you don't need to recruit via an agency. You would have employer responsibilities and you could use a payroll provider to assist with that side of things.

There is a procedure to follow when recruiting someone - you need to confirm they have a right to work. GovUK has a guide, will dig out a link if you need it.

Thank you, nannynick. Great advice.

Sorry wrong thread!

I never had an au pair. Aren't they usually students?

They are normally young, and seeking a 'cultural exchange' with the chance to learn / improve the language of the country where they are going to. Often they are students.

We have had three now (one was always going to be very short term, she was here for a month during her university break, another stayed much longer than is usual and is now qualified in childcare - done while she was with us - and has started a proper childcare job, current one is on a study break until new academic year in September).

It has worked fantastically for us, there's some info here: www.aupairworld.com/en/au_pair_program/uk/family

You should have no issues finding a Spanish-speaking au pair. We have had French-speakers and our son is fluent as a result.

Just make sure you understand that an au pair is meant to be more of an 'older sister'. If you're looking for someone to make your beds, do laundry, cleaning, cooking etc then that's a housekeeper. I think you should be able to find a nanny-housekeeper easily enough. You don't need an agency to employ them. However, you would be responsible for having proper contracts in place, paying taxes, soon it would also be a pension. There are companies that help parents with that, e.g. nannytax.

Yes, that's true. Some au pairs are happy to do "light" housework as part of their duties though. (We've clearly stated ours are not required to do this)