How do I find a nanny?

[ChasingButterflies]

I am new to this and don't know where to start.
We have been using cms for our son, who is 16mo, but have been badly let down this week with no notice (that's a whole other thread). We've rung everyone on local lists of cms and no one has vacancies at the moment
So, we're thinking of trying a nanny instead. Where do we start? We really need childcare as soon as possible, so would an agency be best, and which are the reputable ones (we are in north London)?
Would it be possible to get a temporary nanny for 6 months? We might need longer but I should be going on maternity leave then, so we probably wouldn't be able to keep a nanny on...
Thanks for any help you can give

To get a nanny ASAP, using an agency may be your best bet. No idea about good agencies in your area though.

If you have the time to interview nannies yourself, then you could place an advert at www.nannyjob.co.uk and on www.gumtree.com

With regards to the job only being for 6 months, I would suggest making that clear in adverts... the short-term nature of the job may appeal to some applicants.

Also look at Work Wanted section of Gumtree, to see if any local nannies are currently seeking a job.

When employing a live-out nanny, usual Employment Law will apply, as well as tax law. You will need to register as an employer and operate either PAYE or Simplifed PAYE (if paying under £700 per month). If you need assistance with doing monthly/weekly payroll, then there are various payroll bureaus who can help. PAYEforNannies is one of many. You will need to operate PAYE/SimplifedPAYE for the period of time until the P60 End of Year is generated, following your employee leaving... so probably April 2010 in your case.

Your local netmums childcare board would probably be a good place to look too, that's where I found my current nanny job.

yes try netmums.com and gumtree.com aswell as local agencies

Good luck
x

be aware that an agency will charge you a fee for finding a nanny...this could be as much as 1000 pounds!

We used an agency to recruit our current nanny. At the time, there was lots of demand for nannies (think it's different now!) and as we'd never recruited a nanny, we felt that an agency would give us a bit of comfort in terms of screening out obvious no-hopers. But it was expensive. On the other hand, they found us the world's most wonderful nanny, so it was money well spent in our case.

seriously mummytoprincess !

will try all your suggestions, thanks so much.
we have also found some nanny listings in our local baby-things shop so will start ringing those tomorrow too.

thanks all

Simply Childcare website is very good for finding nannies and well worth the subscription fee (about £30)

where in north london are maybesomeonecould recommend?!!

Sex Discrimination Act will prevent you from your "guarantee to only send you girls that meet your requirements". As an agency you are not permitted to discriminate against job seekers, regardless of their gender, age, race etc.

sorry nannynick didn't mean to offend, i can assure you i do not use that statement in any of my advertising. I just used it in the message above to avoid using the word nannies to often. Mannies are fab too. I unfortunately I don't have any on our books.