Cost of a Nanny in Central Scotland.... can't find info online.

[Toothache]

Hi guys,

I'm at my wits end on my own with my dc's and I'm looking into whether a Nanny is a viable option for me.

Any MNrs in Central Scotland that can give me an idea on the real costs?

I've got a car (no license at the moment) so I could let him/her use that. I'd only need 4 days a week as my Mum does the Friday stint. But I realise I'll probably need to take someone on fulltime.
I have a spare room so could do live-in.

It would make such a difference to come straight home from work to my babies in the house.... homework done!

Any info would be fab. Ta.

Hard to know really, but if you were to call it £10-£12 per hour to include all taxes, then I would expect that would be about typical for live-out. Live-in cost could drop.

A&H Childcare Consultancy are a Scotish based nanny agency I know of... vacancies list will give you some idea of jobs currently being offered to nannies. Some job details with luck will give a salary indicator, though likely to be NET.
Example, I located a live-out job, Glasgow, 20 hours per week (2 days) at £140 net per week. Using ListenToTaxman and E-Gismos £140 net per week works out at around £156 gross plus employers NI of just over £7.
Say you were to double that and offer £280 gross per week, that would be about £359 gross per week plus about £34 employers NI, so total of £393 - call it £400 to be safe.

OH jeez that's alot more than I thought! I was thinking perhaps £300 per week all in including tax etc for my area.
I only pay about £150 per week at the moment. But I pay a cleaner £30 per week too and I was hoping the Nanny would be able to do that too while the kids are at school.

Would the extra childcare cost count toward tax credits?

Maybe I could look at a couple of days a week. That would help me a bit at least.
Thanks Nannynic

Live-in will be cheaper. On that same list, there is a live-in job in Elgin, which is being offered at £210 gross per week.

A nanny may not want to doing general cleaning, tidying the children's rooms is one thing, cleaning the house top to bottom is another. However your children are all at school full-time, then I feel you could ask them to do more housework style duties during school term time. However, you must make that very clear at the outset - you are perhaps wanting more of a nanny/housekeeper.

Rules in Scotland are different to England, I think you have to an agency for the recruitment. Not certain, perhaps someone else will be able to confirm this.

For tax credits, I'm sure you have to go through an agency. The nanny is registered though the agency, checks done with Care Commission. You may then get some help via tax credits for childcare provided by the nanny, subject to you qualifying, your tax credits award percentage and maximum weekly limit.

Probably worth you getting in touch with an agency or few, and asking them how it all works and what salary they think you will be needing to offer, to secure someone suitable.
If your children are all school aged, you may feel that you don't need someone with lots of prior experience... but then again, older children can squabble quite a bit and be quite a handful.

Toothy - we pay £8.00 per hour net for part-time help from a Nanny. She doesn't do any house work - but we didn't ask her too. She has wee one from 8.30, picks number 2 up from nursery at 11.30 and then is home for eldest coming home from school (walks home on her own usually) at 3.15 2 days per week, She finishes around 5ish (as I am at Uni rather than working).

Took ages to find a part-time, experienced, qualified etc. eventually 'stole' some hours from a friends nanny.

Good luck.

We paid £8 an hour for a part-time nanny who did three days a week, but once tax and NI factored in, it came to around £830 a month, plus £150 or so in tax and NI, which was paid quarterly.

To get voucher help, the nanny has to be registered and have certain qualifications - so if you're going through an agency, specify this as many amazing nannies won't have the right qualification to be eligible for the concession.

Also, if you go through an agency shouldn't be hard to get a p/t nanny - loads job-share and we had no shortage of applicants for a 3 day week position.

Madmin & Gomez, where in Scotland are you located. £8 net per hour is higher than the live-out job I located in Glasgow, so would be interesting to find out rates at various Scottish locations.

Thanks everyone!

Been doing some calculations and worked out that I could employ a part time nanny to work from 1-6pm Mon to Thursday (20hrs). That would mean I would still do the morning run and put dd into Nursery half days. That way she'll still get her preshcool sessions until she starts school next year.

Nanny can collect (in my car) dd at 1 from Nursery and ds from school at 3.15. Take them home, get the homework done and feed them.

So when i came in from work at 5.45 I could spend some quality time with them.

PHEW! How complicated!

Keep in mind that you would need to pay the nanny from the time they arrived at your home, to pick up the car. As you are providing a car for work purposes, you would need to insure it such that they could drive it.

Not sure how many people would be interested in working say 12.30pm-6pm. By making the job afternoons only, it may limit the number of potential candidates. Worth a try though.

How will you cover days that nursery is closed, your DD is too ill for nursery, but not so ill that she needs you to be constantly with her?

Also, what would happen during school holidays - would you mum do the mornings?

We are fairly Central Nick - about 1 hour from both Edinburgh or Glasgow. The feedback we got from both direct and agency applicants was that 2 (shortish) days wasn't that appealing to the (few) experienced nannies around our neck of the woods. As we have 3 children and one is still fairly young (now 18 months)we were looking for a bit of experience TBH.

Good luck Toothy.

Nannynic - the nursery is a private nursery so doesn't close other than Christmas day etc.

School hols at the moment ds goes to an after school club that does the hol cover. I'd put him in for morning sessions until 1pm.

I don't understand about the illness thing?

I'd stay off with her in the morning if need be and go to work in the afternoon.

Have you already looked at other forms of childcare, such as Childminders? Not sure exactly where you are, but using www.scottishchildcare.gov.uk I have just found that a childminder in Musselburgh, East Lothian charges £3.50 per hour, another charges £3 per hour. Just something to consider.

Nurseries will typically have a sickness policy, which may prevent your DD from going to nursery, even though she is reasonable well. For example, recovering from a bout of sickness and diarrhoea.
Same would apply for you DS, as schools also have policies. If your work is flexible enough to cover those occasions, or your mum is able to help out, then it should be fine.

Many thanks Nannynic. Off to search some agencies!

It's really help at home I need so a childminder wouldn't be any good unfortunately.

You can find a list of agencies on the Care Commission website. Type of service: Child Care Agency

Hi, Im a nanny in Glasgow. As I'm required shorter hours term time than holiday time, my mb makes gives me a salary which means I get my good summer wages divided up to bulk up all year. I think I get 9 something an hour including petrol money.

Hi I'm a nanny in West Fife and get £7.50 net per hour. Which area of Central Scotland are you in?

i was a bit puzzled by your comment

It's really help at home I need so a childminder wouldn't be any good unfortunately.

Why couldnt a cm pick up your daughter from nursery and then other one from school and give tea and you pick up at 6pm?

Or do you want a nanny to do your housework etc?

Hi from my experience it is £6-8 for Mother's help depending on qualification and experience and for Nanny it is £7-9 dep on quals and exp this is net salary so take home salary and you would then pay tax, employee Ni and emploers NI on top

Nick .. thanks for bringing this to my attention.

"Toothache", I run the agency that Nick has mentioned in his post. If I can be of any help with advice, I will do so. I have just finished 4 days intensive work with a 5 month old baby, so please bear with me if I waffle or dont make any sense.

With regards to working tax credits/childcare vouchers, these can be used in part payment of a nanny's wage in Scotland, if you get your nanny through or register them (ie if you have found someone yourself) with an agency that is registered with the Care Commission. WTC can pay up to 80% of childcare costs, depending on your situation & can therefore make having a nanny a more viable option for many more people.

I would say however that part day hours can be slightly trickier to fill than full day hours, but as long as you allow enough time for the interviews, etc, you should be ok.

If you have any specific questions, please dont hesitate to contact me via mumsnet or on the contact details on the site that Nick posted. (I dont want to add a link myself incase I get accused of advertising myself!!)

Sorry - I meant to also say that, in Scotland, the nanny does not need to be qualified in order for you to apply for assistance through working tax credits or childcare vouchers. The childcare approval scheme does not run in Scotland - so the only registration that the nanny has to have, is to be with an agency that is registered with the Care Commission.