Do nannies normally accept childcare vouchers?

[Blueskythinker]

Do any of the nannies out there accept childcare vouchers as payment?

Both me & my DH's employers have introduced child-care voucher schemes lately, which have very attractive tax benefits.

Payment is made via bank transfer directly into the child-carers account.

I am interviewing a nanny this afternoon, and want to ask her if she would accept this as payment. Is there any reason why someone wouldn't accept vouchers?

I don't think they do .. well AFAIK they don't

some registered childminders might apply to do so, and nurseries tend to .. but I'm fairly sure that nannies, in the main, won't

Don't know about this tbh - but aren't you the employer wrt to nannies? And if so, maybe you can claim back somehow ?? Hope someone who really knows will be along soon!

Nannies can only redeem the vouchers if they are passed the Ofsted approval scheme, which used to be the surestart approval scheme.

Take a look at the Ofsted webpage.

It costs £100, which INCLUDES a CRB check (nanny has to get a new one, even if they already have one) - most employers pay this.

Nannies have to have a qualification and first aid.

If you, as an employer, are prepared to pay the approval fee, then I don't see much reason for a nanny not to accept vouchers.

I warn you, though, it is a long and VERY tedious process!

Rae x

Yes, some nannies do. Raeanne (ha! wandered off AIBU ) is right about nannies needing to be registered etc.

You need nannynick for this - he knows everything about the administrative shoite doings of employing a nanny.

Info here

More info from Ofsted

Nannynick is a man!!!!! I never realised!

Childcare vouchers for nannies is currently only possible in England, to my knowledge.
The number of registered nannies is increasing, but under previous schemes the uptake was low. Time will tell if the new scheme - Ofsted Childcare Register - will see a significant increase in registered nannies (home childcarers). If the nanny is not already registered under the scheme, it can take several months of them to get registered.

There are issues with vouchers - you will find mention about this on this board, as the issues are not isolated to nannies, but affects childminders and nurseries as well. It's about the time it takes for the money to transfer. The soluition is to pay the first month's wages in full from your own funds, then use that month's voucher to part-pay the next month's salary. Hope that makes sense.
If the childcare provider - nanny in this case - is not already registered with the voucher provider, the registration process with the voucher provider can take several weeks.

I'll try to dig out my posts, from when I was registering under the scheme, so you can see how long it takes Ofsted to process someone simple (I'm British, Lived at the place for many years, have relevant qualifications, first aid training, insurance - thus I didn't need to do anything other than complete the Registration paperwork... thus a simple registration).

OCR Registration - from this previous post, I can say that it took 7 Weeks for me to be become registered under the Ofsted Childcare Register.

And yes, I am a man

The main problem with childcare vouchers is that you get them late - there is a solution - possibly useful previous thread about late payment of Childcare Vouchers, also includes some info of the trouble I was having when my employer changed voucher provider (due to a job change).

Nannynick,
Thank you so much. BTW, I didn't mean to suggest there was anything wrong with being a man (which of course, you already know), just that I (wrongly ) assumed that everyone on here was a women.

Gee, and we give men a hard time for being sexist . . .

nannies will/can accept/use the vouchers as payment if they are aproved

as said above it costs £100 and carer needs to have 1st aid and and a crb

as the nanny doesnt gain from being aproved, then it should be up to the employer to pay the 100 fee

it is a very good way to help employers pay for their nanny, one of my friends has nearly her whole wage ( works 2 days ) paid by the vouchers

she works for a lovely family but they are not well off, and without the vouchers, they would not be able to afford good childcare

def check with your company if they support the scheme

BST - lots do, lots don't - there isn't yet, as far as I know, a norm one way or the other.

Reasons why not - hassle of registering (it is a bit of a hassle: not complicated really, just long-drawn-out); cost of registering (there is something of a norm developing here, though, that the employer gets the benefit so the employer takes the hit); also - presumably - some nannies may not want their earnings quite so openly documented (not that that is anything like a good reason, just that it might be there I guess).

forgot to say that nanny will also need public liabilty insurance - costs about £60 a year, can be got frommortonmichel and nannytax

ideally the nanny should pay this herself,as if something god forbid did happen to your child and parents were going to sue, there would be legal implications, if they employer paid for it

most nannies should have the above insuarnce to cover them (just incase)

so costs in all would be £100 for crb/check, 1st aid about 60 pounds if needs to be renewed and also £60 for insurance (paid by nanny )

Just to add to this (incase anyone north of the border is reading!!) ... the Ofsted nanny approval scheme doesnt apply in Scotland. To pay your nanny with childcare vouchers, you need to get him/her through an agency that is registered with the Care Commission!

Yep... Ofsted only applies in England. Wales, Scotland, NI are different.

12 hour First Aid training courses can cost far more than £60. But whatever the cost, this I feel is something the nanny should be paying. A professional nanny will pay their own training and insurance.

insurance yes nanny should pay for

but i kinda feel that though the nanny should def have 1st aid, some of the courses i know nannies have, arent suitable for the ofstead, and need to re do it for a 2 day course,and seems unfair the nanny should pay for something, they dont need updating, but need so that Mb can use vouchers iyswim

if in an office and you needed to go on a course, you would expect the office to pay for it and not out of your own pocket

Thanks for this. I have been in touch with Social Services who do the registration in NI, and they are pretty consistent with the requirements in England & Wales. I would be happy to pay for any CRB checks etc.

I never thought about public liability insurance!

Our nanny saga is becoming more & more drawn out, to the point I am almost losing the will to be interested . We interviewed someone on Saturday, contacted the agency yesterday to offer the job, and the agency phoned me today to say she has accepted a job elsewhere. [sigh]

Thing about NI, is that nannies are not as plentiful than in England.

[another sigh]

bst - its nice to know that some employers dont mind paying for crb

and yes the new ofstead says that nannies HAVE to have public insurance

sorry to hear nanny opted for different job,dont take it perosnally (unless you are a right physco to work for ) sure you will find the right person soon