Do I need a nanny? How much does one cost in Scotland? And where on earth do I find a good one?

[frazzledoldbag34]

I have a DD (7) - at school until 3.10pm and a DD (just 2) who goes to nursery 4 days per wk (at £40/day). Am pg with baby no 3 due in 2009 so wondering whether a nanny will work out a better/cheaper option for us. DH is self employed and works long hrs sometimes. I'm also self employed but at the moment work a lot from home. (However, if I had a nanny I may move my office out of home!).
Planning to only take about 6 wks 'off' after the baby born as can't really stop work for too long as it's my own business and I don't have any staff working for me who can take over.
So, will either need to put new baby into nursery with DD (age 2) which will be another £40 plus per day or think about a nanny for the 4 days per wk. We have space (downstairs bedroom with own en-suite etc) which could accommodate a live-in and our house is quite large but would probably prefer live out. Having said that we did consider an au-pair for this summer but I wimped out (heard too many horror stories) and not sure about leaving DD under age 2 with au pair for any amount of time.

Anyway, any experienced mummies who've been here and done it - I'd love the benefit of your wisdom........or any nannies in the Tayside area please feel free to let me know what you think about hours/pay/live-in/out etc. All advice welcome!
Thanks.

i think it would be cost effective for you to have a nanny with 3 children, especially with school aged child as if they were poorly nanny could take care of them as well as other children.

for a live out nanny doing 4 days at 10hrs a day (40hrs a week) you are looking at £5-£8 net an hr depending on experience and qualifications, assuming with very small baby you want someone experienced with young babies.

for live-in for 40-55hrs plus 1-2 babysits a night you are looking at around £250 net a week.

hope that helps.

Very helpful thanks. Are these national salaries or Scottish? (and does this matter?)
Also any idea whether it's worth going thro an agency or is it safe/advisable to find people on Gumtree etc? Am a bit of a novice at this sort of thing.
I take it nannies will work part time (ie the 4 days and not expect 5 working days per week?)
Any other advice welcomed. Thanks

I have recruited from Gumtree before and found two great people. They had their issues re personal problems but in terms of being safe and caring and great with DD, they were fine.

I think there are agencies and they are agencies. Many people on here seem to really dislike them. I have a friend who swears by one in London (two grand a pop) but many of them do what you could do yourself, provided you have the time, in terms of sorucing applicants and reference checking. With regard to reference checking, you would be wise not to rely on the agency, whatever sort of recommendation they come from to provide all the information in that regard.

yes quite alot of nannies like to work 4 days especially if it 40hrs a week (so equivalent to most peoples full time hours)

recruiting through gumtree, here, nannyjob can be time consuming as esp with gumtree you need to fliter out the crap.

as long as you check they have a crb, first aid certificate and ring 2 work references and 1 personal reference.

also if recruting yourself through websites I would def go for just intial meetings then do a short list of candiates after that for interview as i can be sure many wont turn up for an intial meeting and also if you dont like them then dont need to interview.

I am a childrens nurse and night nanny/proxy parent ad-hoc and get most of my work through gumtree and netmums.

Thanks for that info. - very helpful.

frazzle would you like some info on agencies? im a nanny not an agency btw!

Yes please simpleasABC - do you know of any good ones in Scotland?

dont know where you are in scotland but there is a few in glasgw

west of scotland naany agency
a&h childcare
glasgow childcare solutions
tinies
darabys

prob more that i can think of off hand

you beat me to it amazonian adventure! not that it would be difficult, i'd totally lost this thread.

i've dealt with four out of the five three of whom were lovely and one who was extra lovely.

unfortunately don't know anything about darabys.