Nanny bringing her own two children - advice/rate of pay?

[Flyingcarpet]

Going rate is £8/hr gross for a nanny here. Is 20% less reasonable say £6?
Anthing else I need to consider with as I have previously only had childless nannies!

Whereabouts are you? i would say £6-7 would be reasonable as she wouldnt have both children with her ALL the time would she? (not that this should be a prob)

I have no idea re: rates but I wonder if sickness could be a problem. Everyone gets ill and in this case, there is the nannies and two other people whose sicknesses could impact on you.

What age are the children? If they are going to be at school most of the day, it may work out. If they are say a baby and a toddler - then it is another matter... think how much it would cost the nanny if s/he had to find childcare for them.

£6 gross is certainly reasonable, though I feel you may be able to offer even as low as minimum wage.

How old are the children? I used to employ a nanny with her own baby and we paid about 80% of going rate.
Things to think about are: who pays for her children's food/entrance fees to place.
How is she going to get them about - depending on how many children you have she will need a car that takes at least 3 car seats - we ended up buying a bigger car and putting nanny on my insurance so that she could drive all the children to places during the day (she drove to work and back in her own little car).
Also car seats - will you need more car seats to stop nanny having to re-fit seats from her car to yours each day (because what do the children do when seats are being fitted)
Are there any activities which the other 2 children may preclude your children from doing eg. in this area there is a limit to the number of children per adult that swim in the local pool.
I would recommend making sure you know exactly when her children will be with her. I assumed that nanny would bring child with her in the morning and then take him home when she left - in reality she left child in bed until after school run then drove back to get him then sometimes her dp would pop round to pick him up and would be hanging round my house (and he isn't CRB checked etc).
Also discuss her children's routine if any, and whether, if it is different from your child's routine, which one will be adhered to.
I have to say that although we employed a nanny with one child I would hesitate to employ one with 2 children unless they were school age.
Oh, and also, if they are a different age to your child, who provides age-appropriate toys etc. - I had a house full of baby toys, highchairs, double buggys, baby gates and safety latches which gets annoying after a while (if your children don't need these things anymore).

It's worth thinking that if you were sharing a nanny with another family who had 2 children you would be paying £4 an hour each, rather than 6..I would be tempted to offer less.

i think minimum wage or £4 p/hr is a bloody insult!!!!

Blimey Millarkie....I was a nanny with my own children and blardy glad I didnt work for you!!!!

£4.....what an insult!!

I did not say that i would pay a nanny £4 an hour - I said that a nannyshare paying a nanny £8 per hour would cost each family £4 per hour....to compare that to a nanny bringing her own 2 children along in terms of inconvenience to the op.
I said I would be tempted to go lower than £6 per hour but £6 per hour net is well above minimum wage (which nannynick suggested and he is a nanny).

I also said that I probably wouldn't emploly a nanny who brought 2 children along, and I guess that is the case for most nanny employers. There has to be a good reason to put up with the hassle involved, either the nanny is fantastically qualified for that particular job, or they are significantly cheaper than an alternative employee.

Oh, and I happen to know 2 nannys who earn £40 per day for their 10 hour days (in outer London) simply because there are more nannys than jobs in this area (not that I condone paying that amount)

Thanks for the advice _ I think I have alot to consider.Her children are a baby and pre-schooler which is potentiaaly difficult but she is great.

I was a nanny with my own baby.

I used to fill up their house with travel cots, buggies, toys etc.
But I'd been with them for 5+ years when I had ds. I still look after the youngest after school and all day in the holidays. (at my house now since I've had dd)

Also I used to make sure the house was tidy and all my baby things were as out of sight as possible by the time they came home.
I used a booster highchair that just attached to a normal seat to save space and I brought the travel cot home at weekends.

The children I looked after were all at school by the time ds was born.

I used to bring his own food from home but occasionally he'd have what they were having. I always paid for any enterance fees for him with my own money.

I know lots of nannys with their own babies too.

One looks after 2 girls, they are at school all day. She has a cot etc at their house for her ds.

She does her own thing with him all day then he has to fit in with the mindees after school etc.

The nannies children have to have their naps and classes/groups etc fitted in round the mums job. As long as your nanny does that then it should be ok.

Re the cars, some of them use their own cars which they have bought especially so they are big enough and others have cars bought for them to use by the family. One was given a mini to use with 3 kids. Not very helpfull!
Same with car seats. I have loads of extra boosterseats incase of extra children coming in our car.

Excellent advice on this thread.

Second 20% pay reduction.

Millarkie, employing a nanny with her own baby has fewer complications than entering into a traditional nanny share, hence 50% pay reduction not really appropriate.

I do see your logic though.

Flyingcarpet you might want to ask the local agencies what the usual rate is - bear in mind that when some nannies return to an old job their pay isn't reduced. Not true of everyone, but your nanny may be assuming she'll be paid full rate, even though (if I read correctly) she's a new nanny.

Maybe also speak to her references, if she worked for them with at least one of her two, to see how they scaled her pay?

HI WanderingTrolley - I've employed a nanny solely for my children, nannyshared with another family and also employed a nanny with her own baby and to be honest, the nanny with own baby was the most complicated situation - I am aware that this was partly due to me just not thinking of all eventualities and writing them into job description, and was also in part due to that particular nanny just not being very good (whether she brought baby with her or not).
Anyway - I shall leave this thread alone as I am still upset over the other comments.

Good luck Flyingcarpet - the key thing is to make sure you discuss and agree on as much as you can think of as possible before nanny starts, and if poss, write it into a job description. And tackle any problems the moment they come up so it's out in the open and doesn't happen again.

BTW my pay was reduced but only because my hours had changed from FT to only collecting from school and holidays, nothing to do with me having ds.

NONE of my friends hours were reduced after they had children.

2 of my friends employers didn't give them their jobs back after they had babies.

Only one of my children is at school,the other is still very young and fits in age between her two.
She is my first option but I also have the option of a sole care nanny with a part nanny share with a similar age child to mine if I nanny share for a day.This works out not much more so it isn't a money saving option.
I am going for a nanny even though I don't need full time care so my child can be in her own home and have more personal care not because of long hours or complicated needs.
Just finding it hard to make the right decision

Which one do you like the most as a person? Which one is most like your friends? Or you feel you can talk to easily. Its so important to be able to discuss things with each other.

I think a 20% pay reduction is very generous, and 50% is a bit too much. I would ofer her 60%-70% of the going rate, and I would ask her to show up with or without sick children. This would of course mean that I would accept the my children will probably get the illnesses. I also would ask her to look after my children if a mild illness (cold, flu.. basically anything short of needing a trip to the GP). If there is a doctor isit required then I prefer to do it myself.

Blimey - you are lucky you can deduct in the UK. I checked out my situation when nanny came back from ML and wanted to take baby with her and under no circumstances was I allowed to make any deductions. Glad it only lasted 2 weeks cos babs was a nightmare

i am a nanny with 1 son who i have taken to work since he was 3months.NO problems came up because i had a son,he was just like the third child.i looked after the children the same, did not give more attention to my son.
i think if it works for you and your boss then go for it.

Mishmash - I wonder where you are based. It seems to me like a pretty fundamental change in circumstances and I can't see why a contract couldn't be re-negotiated.

Genidef I am in Ireland. As I am already an employer with other staff I took advice from my HR and they checked it out and according to our Gov Body I couldn't make any deductions. Never went further with it as she was gone in 2 weeks anyway.

Know loads who made deductions for board and lodgings but if it came to a challenge in court I'm not sure how it would stack up.

Or else I was a pushover

Mishmash is a pushover and WAY too generous to undeserving employees. She needs to toughen up.

Hiya Mish

How's the new one?