Thinking of becoming a Childminder/Nanny - help please!!!

[leeloo1]

I'm currently a teacher (on maternity leave) and I don't want to leave my baby to go back to work, and also, once I've paid his nursery fees I won't have much salary left anyway.

If I become a childminder I know I'll have to go on a course, get registered, pay my own tax/NI etc, but is this also the case if I was a nanny - and do you have to have training to be a nanny?

What should I be considering??? Help please!

I have just done this! Was a teacher and now a nanny - take my dd with me, she is now 8 months and look after a little girl who has just turned 1 and take/pick up her brother from school who is 5! - I love it and is working really well!!

As a teacher I have managed to get registered with ofsted (so can be paid with vouchers) just had to do a 12 first aid course and get insurance (about £60) - ofsted dont list teaching qualifications on their list of qualifications but i called and they said it more than qualified! I don't get quite as much as the going rate for a nanny as no experience of being one and generally get less taking dd with me - but i do bring in a lot more than i would teaching and paying for childcare!

My house wasn't suitable for childminding but i believe you can earn more... BUT there is a lot of paperwork etc so much more like teaching in that respect (although as a teacher you will be used to it!) but as a nanny i keep my home my home and leave all work at work at the end of the day, also is nice being able to sit and have a drink etc when they are both sleeping (not that it happens every day!) without having to worry about cleaning my house/washing etc - when at work have a routine which is fab and am now starting to meet other nanny and childminders which is great!

Ooooh, thanks for your message. I have to say after my initial excitement I got a bit depressed about reading on here how hard it was to make your house over to be approved for childminding by Ofsted, so maybe nannying would be a good option?! Also, whilst I worked in Early Years, so am used to the paperwork and constantly filling in post-it notes, I absolutely hate it - such a waste of time when you could be engaging with children, so I really wouldn't miss that aspect!

Could I ask- did you have to be approved by Ofsted to become a nanny or is that just so you can accept the vouchers? Oh and do you have to pay your own tax and NI (and fill in tax returns etc)?

You don't have to be Ofsted registered, unless you want to accept vouchers. A nanny is employed (while a childminder is self-employed) so as a nanny your employer sorts out all the tax and NI.

Thanks for the reply, that makes sense.

I have a few friends who I'm thinking I could nanny for - but it'd have to be affordable for them - about the equivalent of paying a nursery place. I was reading back posts and someone on here said that to pay the nanny £8ph they'd have to be paying £16ish in total to include tax and things, which my friends couldn't afford. Is there any way I could be self-employed as a nanny... or would I be better off biting the bullet and working out how to become a childminder (as it seems there are tax breaks to caring for your own child at home as well as other people's)... I keep swinging between knowing which option to go for. Are there any websites that explain the benefits of each career choice?

Oh and just wondered if anyone nanny's with their own child, what would you do if your own child was sick?

the only way to be self employed as a nanny is to only work temp or ad hoc.

I am a self employed nanny and love it (although I was previously an employed nanny working for one family at a time).

I think that because your baby is little you would be better off being employed. Having said that, there are currently so many nannies looking for work that you may struggle to find something that will fit in with your baby and still paying enough.

I have an au pair so that if one of my children gets poorly, they can stay at home with her.

I guess it depends on the illness though. It is a cold or something fairly minor, i used to still take my children to work with me as the chances were that all of the children would get it and not just mine. I did one have to take nearly 2 weeks off work due to my daughter being very ill but because she was in hospital, my bosses at the time were very good about it (and we are still very good friends several years on)

Paula - out of interest, when completing the HMRC paperwork to register as self employed, what job title did you use? I'm wondering what they allow and don't allow these days.

leeloo1 - not sure where you got your figures from, possibly it's the amount someone has to earn in their job, such that they can employ a nanny at a certain wage.
If a nanny was paid £400 gross per week (so £80 per day, £8 per hour if a 10 hour day), then that would probably cost the employer around £440 - your can use e-Gismos.com to do Employers NI calculations. That is just the salary cost though... there are other factors to consider as well, such as outings/activities, food, heating/light etc.

nick - they have me down as a maternity nanny as that is what I do predominately.

If I am doing ad hoc work as a nanny, it really is under my terms and only ever short term.

My longest nanny job since being SE was 8 weeks.

My longest maternity post to date was 14 weeks (twins).

Hi, Thanks again for the helpful comments!

I can't remember exactly where the figures were from on here - sorry, perhaps I misread it?!

I've only ever been employed, so have never had to worry about tax etc (TBH I find the whole financial side of leaving work and having to worry about this stuff myself a bit scary - but it'd be worth it if it means I get to be with my baby rather than putting him in nursery), so that site was really useful Nannynick- thanks. Although I am still a bit confused though... if I work for 1 person for 3 days a week it looks like they'd be paying £17.28 tax, but if I work for another person for just 1 day a week it looks like they'd be paying no tax at all?! Is that right, or would they have to add the total payment and divide the tax between them? (Am guessing it would be easier to have 1 full-time employer, but everyone I know plans to return to work part-time).

The council apparently have 'becoming a childminder' coffee mornings, so that'll be useful, but are there sites that give advice about becoming a Nanny? Or is there anything else that I need to or should consider?

leeloo1 - are you talking about Employers NI, or do you now mean the tax and NI deducted by the employer on behalf of their employee?

If the latter, then when someone works 3 days for one employer and 1 day for another employer, one way of doing the employees taxation is to use their personal allowance on the main job and do the other job at Basic Rate tax (use BR or 0 in tax calculators).
This means that the full salary of the second job is taxed, whereas only the portion of salary above the persons personal tax allowance in their main job is taxed.

End of the day it will make little no difference to you as the employee, as the tax paid in total should be the same as if it were all one job.

Employers NI varies according to the amount of salary paid to the employee... so an employer who has an employee for only 1 day per week is likely to pay less Employers NI.

You should agree a GROSS salary - that is a salary BEFORE deduction of taxes. This is how the vast majority of employees in the UK are paid and thus how you would have been paid in previous jobs.

In addition to this great Mumsnet board there is www.NannyJob.co.uk which has a message board where you can chat with other nannies about working as a nanny.

Other things to consider:
As a teacher you may be part of a pension scheme. By leaving teaching your pension will be frozen at it's current point. Talk to your pension provider regarding what happens with this pension. Also you need to opt back in to the state pension if you are no longer paying into your occupational pension.
As a nanny you won't have a pension... so you need to set one up yourself or be very good about putting aside a portion of your salary into a savings account.

Future employment prospects:
Once you leave teaching, you are unlikely to return as your knowledge will out-date. As a teacher you have the ability to work your way up through different levels. Thus if you worked your way up, your future earnings could be quite a bit more than your current earnings.
As a nanny there isn't any career progression. I have no idea what I will do when I get too old to be a nanny - probably working for my local council doing childcare advice. That could be a salary drop.

When your son is school age, your working days will fit a lot better with his days at school. You will probably need to use a childminder before/after school but not for many hours. So your childcare costs will not be a large percentage of your salary.

Try to think about what happens in 5 years time, 10 years time etc.
When mothers go back to work after maternity leave they often don't make any money after paying for childcare. So if you have done the calculations and make SOME money, then that actually sounds quite good. As your son gets older, then childcare cost could drop, thus meaning you make more money, plus you could get paid more in your job.

Consider your return to work options... you may not need to return full-time, you may be able to job-share with a colleague. This would then keep you intouch with work, keep the pension benefit and your place on the career ladder (you may even go up it a little, depending how it works as you may get credit for long service record).

Remember that your partner has responsibilities for his child. He can do some childcare himself at times - perhaps he could work 4-days per week, meaning that you need one less day of childcare. Grandparents may also be willing to help out.

Ok, you've just neatly summed up all my worries about leaving work! Its incredibly hard to weigh up my long term career prospects and security against the misery and angst of leaving my baby when he is so small. I left him for a few hours with my parents yesterday and when I came back he literally would not look at me - even when he was feeding. How miserable and confused must he be for him to do that when he's not even 4 months old yet??? How would he react if I leave him for 10-12 hours every day (which is what it'd be after commute)??? Ok at the end of the day he could/would have to learn to deal with it, but at what cost - to him and to me?

Nursery places here cost a fortune - he is signed up to one for a full time place, as its £55pd or £225pw, so I could only really afford to pay for his fees if I work full time. We also have a huge mortgage, so that'll eat any money left after paying nursery & travelling costs.

DH is going to ask about working a 4 day week, but he earns far more than I do, so only realistic if they let him do 5 days of hours over 4 days. Grandparents would love to help, but work full time (can't change this as it'd affect their pensions and they're close to retiring) and live far away.

Leeloo, I'm a nanny not a mum, but in your position I'd do what I could to stay with my baby too. The first few years are so precious and have such a big impact on the rest of their lives imo. I think childminding is a great option when you have your own children - it's what I would hope to do when I have my own babies, and return to nannying maybe when they are school age.

I considered everything and still decided to be a nanny, i discussed it with my headteacher at school and she said that she had no worries about my returning to teaching as 40% of all primary teachers are due to retire in the next 5 years - also we discussed returning to teaching courses which are part time/evening etc and anything from 6 months to a year that bring you back up to scratch with what is going on! my head was very very supportive! I have no regrets at all about my decision, i love being a nanny and love the fact that i can go home and have no planning/marking etc to do!

I am getting paid about the same as a nursery place (although also look after their 5 year old before and after school/holidays! so i guess this is where they save and use for tax etc!), maybe contact some agencys to ask about the total cost? call asking about employing a nanny maybe? Not sure I would nanny for a friend though, maybe too close to home? pobbily look for someone with a baby and another child at school? as they are more likely to be able to afford the salary of a nursery place + the tax etc??

Your baby is very little and the thought of leaving him must be terrible. But I think it's worth bearing in mind that you have many many years ahead of you when he's not so little. Teaching sounds like a better career than childminding to me. Could you go back part time. Or take more time off and do supply work.