What is the difference between a Mothers Help and a Nanny?

[nannynick]

What do you feel are the differences between a Mothers Help and a Nanny?

I feel that a Mothers Help is:
someone who helps around the home, while at least one parent is also at home the majority of the time. The Mothers Help may be left to care for children for short periods, but not all day.

I feel a Nanny is:
someone who cares for children at a families home, who also does some domestic tasks. They can care for children all day.

Thanks for this nannynick. I felt quite bad about the serious hijack of the other thread.

I am most definitely a mother's help.

But now another question. (or a few ). Do you get live in mother's helps? Also, what then is this difference in terms of mothers helps and APs regarding hours, money, duties etc.

I agree with that nick - I'd say one of the big differences is the level of management. A nanny can be expected to be pretty autonomous, organise the children's schedule, bedrooms, laundry etc. A mother's help I feel would have more direction - please clean the kitchen today, take the children to the park for an hour, hold the baby while mum sleeps.

I sometimes wish I was a nanny instead of a mother's help. It would make my job easier. The best times at work are when the MB has gone out and I can get on with what I am supposed to be doing. Discipline is such a tough issue when both myself and the MB are there.

Yeh Id say pretty similar to you.
Mothers help arnt really meant to be left alone for long where as a nanny has them for the longer periods alone,inside or outside the house.
Everyone I speak to has a diff view on this so I think mainly its just whats agreed between the employee and employer.
Mothers help dont get paid as much as a Nanny would as they do less and have less responsibility

Lily - Personally I feel that both roles could be either live-in or live-out. I am trying to steer away from discussion about au-pairs, as that visa category no longer exists. The new category is Tier 5 Youth & Mobility Scheme which applies to very few countries. Therefore most of those people coming to the UK (as most I feel will come from EEA countries) to do live-in childcare/housework will be either a Mothers Help or a Nanny.

Tankie - Yes, the level of supervision/management required could be a defining factor. Though some nannies may need more direction than others, and some mothers helps may need less direction. But generally I'd say that a nanny should be able to be left to get on with things without micro-management.

If a mother's help was live in and worked 25 hours a week, in general how much would he/she get paid?

i would have least thought min wage (though min wage doesnt exsist for live in) but about £5/6ph for a mothers help

I thought live ins are not paid by the hour but by the week? Sorry for the many questions but I am very curious to see if I am being short changed

Live-In job salaries can be whatever the two parties involved agree. So it could easily vary quite a bit. If the employer didn't want to operate PAYE, then they would probably only go as high as the NICs Lower Earnings Limit Threshold which for 08/09 Tax Year is £90 per week.

mothers helps are not normally left sole charge for long periods, they help mums and basically do what they are asked -also do housework

nannies are gen sole charge and do anything to do with children, but might draw the line at some domestic tasks, ie cleaning house/parents ironing ( well i would, but you all know what a fussy nanny i am )

A mother's help would probably be paid more than £60 live in for 25 hours a week Lily - maybe £100? But a mother's help would probably have some childcare experience, in a nursery or previously having been an au pair. They'd almost certainly be working longer hours than you are though.

Okay, thanks for your help Tankie. I have previous childcare experience also but not of young children.

I was paid £200 a week live in when I was a mothers help about 6/7 years ago if that helps.
I did work all the hours that god sent thou!

Lily - it also is worth bearing in mind that if you were renting a room in a shared house somewhere, you might easily be paying £100 a week in rent, bills and food. So with that considered you're not on great money but it isn't too terrible.

How old are you? Is this the first time you've lived away from home?

I only work 25 hours. I get paid £60 and by the way people have described what a mother's help is, I am one of them

A live in nanny or mother's help would normally work a 50-60 hour week.

Tankie, I'm not complaining about the money, just wondering and I took it into consideration about rent, food, bills etc before I moved in. I am 21. I left home at 18

I agree with Tankie, a live-in Nanny or Mothers Help would be working 50-60 hours per week. Lily, your hours are less than that... they are at the au-pair limit of 5 hours per day, probably due to that being the restriction on an au-pairs visa.
If the majority of those 25 hours that you are working you have sole-charge care of a child (with parents not at home) then you are more a nanny in my view.

I don't have an au-pairs visa as I am not from abroad. The MB is a SAHM but is often out with some of the children and I am home with the others. I cook dinner for the children and sometimes the parents, empty and load the dishwasher when it needs to be done but I don't do any 'housework' as such.
I am still slightly confused about what I am. I'm going to say Mother's help.

Rent, food, heat/light, tv license, etc all do mount up, thus why live-in staff are not paid that much. Working out the actual costs of the benfits is hard, thus why I expect NMW does not apply for live-in jobs.

Tbh it sounds like an au pair role to me - though you could just as easily call yourself a part time mother's help.

No you won't have an au-pair visa, but that is where I suspect the 25 hours came from. Your MB could ask you to work more hours than that, as you don't have visa restrictions.

SAHM's present an issue... as at what point does someone change from being a Mothers Help to a Nanny in that situation? Where the Mothers Help is having responsibility for a child (or more than one child) the majority of their working hours, then I feel they are more a Nanny than a Mothers Help. There is going to be some overlap between the roles of Nanny and Mothers Help - thus why I was asking the question as to what people feel defines each role.

I always say I'm an au-pair but people keep saying you can't be an au-pair if you are not from abroad

Plus now the au-pair visa category no longer exists - so even those people coming from abroad to the UK (from 1 Dec 08 onwards) aren't au-pairs either. But what are they - Mothers Help or Nanny? I think it depends on what role they are doing... how much of their working time is childcare v how much is housework, how much management they may require, etc.

Previous to 1 Dec 08, you could be an au-pair even if not from abroad, if you worked up to 5 hours per day in exchange for board and lodgings plus a little pocket money. But the au-pair scheme no longer exists, so it is only those people in the UK who have an au-pair visa which has yet to expire, who I feel are actually au-pairs. Those who don't need a visa to work in the UK I feel are a live-in Mothers Help (or live-in Nanny).

Nick, you are being technically correct. but Lilly isn't a mothers help. She doesn't do anywhere near enough hours.
I think you are an English AP Lilly ,even though such a thing no longer exists and never did.
You are doing 25 hours for the going rate i.e £60 live in.
I'm sure your "title" doesn't matter unless you are intending to leave, in which case you should speak to your HM. I'm sure she'll tell you what position she thinks you are suitable for.
If you are intending on asking for more money, I think you should consider whether your hours/responsibilities have changed since you accepted the position. If they have, you should speak to your HM, if not, then you should ask yourself why you accepted the position in the first place.