Nannies

[GroovyChic]

I'm thinking of hiring a nanny. I've found a potential nanny on greataupair.com and was wondering what questions I should be asking them? Also, what companies do you recomend to deal with tax and payroll? Thanks

Well, my very basic questions, are 1) Do you smoke? 2) What childcare experience do you have? 3) Have you any first aid qualification 4) Have you got a clean driving licence 5) Can you provide two references 6) What is your expected salary.

Then I just like to chat to them. I know others like to ask a lot of questions about how they would structure a day with the children, what activities would they think appropriate, how much tv appropriate etc. but I've had a few nannys who have answered but then said 'It's up to you as my employer, what would you like me to do with them?' - which is fair enough in my book, since I would like to be guiding their activities etc.

I use nannypaye for pay slips, tax etc. They are cheaper than nannytax but have always been friendly and reliable. (It's a small company so you feel as if they know you when you ring). It's supposedly quite easy to do it yourself, but I am too lazy :-) Nannynick will be here sooner or later to point you in the right direction.

The now famous list of Interview Questions from Eleusis

With regard to payroll, you don't need to use a payroll company. HMRC provide a lot of help these days and payroll for one employee is not that tricky, especially if they are full-time.
For a worked example of a payroll run, see Paying my New Nanny for the First Time

If you do feel you want someone else to do most of the payroll, then Graham and his team at NannyPAYE seem good to me.

You should see how the nanny reacts with your children as well, if they're old enough. DS1 was actually a great help recruiting our current lovely nanny when he was 21 months old. And bear in mind that some nannies prefer v young children, and will move on in a couple of years unless you keep having babies - their CV moves should give you a big clue here.