What are you lookimg for in a nanny

[nanny1974]

When parents are looking for a nanny, what are you looking for.
What will put you off a nanny?

I ask myself: would I like my child to be like this person?

Positive, can do attitude is the next most important thing.

A person that can keep my child safe, happy, stimulated. Want her to be reliable/punctual, trustworthy, positive/happy natured, motivated, tidy, efficient, relaxed but firm, good communicator to me/my child.

Im finding hard to find parents who will pay my tax and Ni

nanny1974 that is outragouse..... especially s its the law and if they refuse its them (not you) that will face the £3000 fine from inland rev.

they are also not paying their employers NI which they are legally obliged to pay and inland rev dont like that

Thats really interesting nanny1974........I have always done everything above board but I am told in London its the norm to declare only half of nanny's income and pay the rest in cash !

Anyone else experienced this ?

I was outraged too NannyL particulary as the people who told me they did this and so did all their friends have a household income of at least 300k per year and bags of houses they rent out in addition to that !

Well I guess they got it somehow!

nanny1974 - I'm finding it hard to find someone who will agree to let us pay her tax and NI!!! I had someone quit over it rather than sign our contract when we wanted to formalise the arrangement. Got incredibly spooked when we asked for her NI number. The next working day, announced she was giving her notice. And friends have interviewed nannies who raise the issue of declaring less themselves. I agree it's a strange situation.

TBH our exp with prev nanny put us off the whole thing...we're just coming round a bit now.

More: I have interviewed at least half a dozen people who go down the 'I'm self employed' route with us, and seem to believe they can be childminders - using that term - but working from someone's home. It's true that many of these women are 40+ and have been looking after children for a while. They may genuinely not be aware of the changes in rules around this, totally out of hte OFSTED loop (okay, I'm being kind here). And i'm really serious when I say, they like things the way they are, don't want talk of nanny tax etc. So, while some parents are undoubtedly taking hte mick, I think the problem may actually be a bit more complicated.

As a nanny with 10 years experience working in London i've always found it incredibly hard to find parents who will pay all tax and NI. Doing half and half is very much the norm unfortunately.

My bosses just asked if i wanted my payrise in cash or in my payslip...

and i told them it would have it and it had to be in my payslip (for when i remortgage)

(with 2 six figure salaries coming into their house im sure a few extra £s each week wont bankrupt them )

But not paying tax/NI only harms the nanny! I can't see why anyone would want to do half and half.

Having said that I AM self-employed, because I mostly work as a maternity nurse and only as a temporary nanny. But I do make sure I religiously declare all my income and pay my NI contributions because I'm only hurting myself in the long run if I don't.

nannyL how do you know what your bosses are earning ? Surely they didnt tell you ?

I used to have a nanny for 25-30 hours per week; because this is london it added up to a tidy sum. We'd never have countenanced not paying tax/NI, painful though it is !

Now that lovely nanny has left and set up home with partner and baby, having had a mat leave running smoothly via the IR, it's just as well we paid up, as is the case with all my friends who have nannies.

they might not tell me.... but it is well known what consultants in the NHS earn... and has been all over our local papaers numerouse times...
Also until i got runover i myself seriously wanted a career in medicine and reasearched earning potential then,

not to mention the fact that my boss has been known to leave her bankstatements, all open IN MY nanny diary!.... whilst i dont look at them, its not relaly possible to not see what is on the front

fancy leaving them in your nanny diary!!! I am not secretive about what I earn and everything is in an unlocked cabinet if people really want to know..........but Im not that obvious!!!

LOL my sister and her H are bth NHS consultants and they bleat on about how badly paid they are all the time never mind the 8 weeks holiday etc etc

I left a position which didn't work out. I was there a month. They paid me 5 mins before I left. I was paid a net wage but they didn't pay my tax and NI. When I was filling in forms at the job centre they spoke to this family and the wife said I was self-employed which was a total lie. I was furious but nothing was done about it.

when was that yogi mum?

as the law only changed a few yearsback and its now illegal for almost any nanny (execptions maternity nurses employed for

It was in 2004. I just didn't pursue it, put it down to bad luck. I'm self employed now. I'm doing part-time maternity work and odd days for an agency now.

Im finding parents need cheap childcare.which is fine for them,but not for me.The family that i work for now are paying my tax and Ni.The job is 3 days a week. I have been trying to find a full-time job,but there are so many nannies out there.Some of them are au-pairs( who say they are nannies.

we pay all the NI contributions and taxes for our full-time. live-in nanny - the fall-out for trying to dodge it is just unthinkable for us - I mean, who really wants HMRC crawling all over your life for 2 years because of it. In fact, I would not employ a nanny who tried to get around that.

I also find that parents need a nanny part-time and don't like to pay you when you are on A/L

sorry, forgot to answer the OP !

• I looked for someone who would complement our parenting skills ie happy to do what I wished in terms of feeding, discipline etc
• calm in a storm - I get wildly irritated by hysterical people.
• flexible - our current nanny works on weekends and takes days off during the week. btw - this works both ways.
• discreet, polite and well-mannered.
• she must be able to connect with DS - I love nothing better than coming home to DS squealing laughter filling the house!

I don't need and won't hire a bossy, lazy or difficult individual - recently had a heinous temporary nanny and ended up firing her because she was all three!!!!

I had a great nanny. She was just the sort of person who you could tell from the outset would be kind, capable and dependable. She also proved to be flexible and happy to do things beyond childcare round the house - so that when DD started part-time pre-school, we were happy to keep her full time as she did ironing etc.

We would not have employed anyone who didn't want all the money matters to be totally above board. We used NannyTax - proper payslips and everything.

She still 'babysits'... well thats cash in hand but she does it for love not money.

Good luck... hold out for someone honest to work for.

I'm with Coolmama in terms of nanny qualities

I also like a qualified nanny, who will be around long term to provide continuity of care; she will help teach the children to speak, so English mother tongue is important to me.

I too have had trouble persuading people that I would only employ them on the basis I also paid their tax and NI