Approaching a mum who is also a trained nursery nurse to ask her to look after my baby - advice on what to offer etc gratefully received..

[hattyyellow]

I'd really welcome some help.

I'm going back to work next month and need to find childcare for DD3 who will be 6 months old.

I'd like to approach a local mum who used to work at a nearby nursery and is experienced in baby care. She had her own baby 9 months ago and left the nursery to concentrate on looking after her. Last month she started working 2 mornings a week at our local playgroup whilst her mum looked after her little boy.

I want to suggest to her that she come to our house one morning per week, with her son as well and looks after DD3 for us here. I'm keen for DD3 to stay in her own home if possible.

I know that she's looking for more informal work where she can still look after her child as well.

I would provide a room where her son could nap if needed.

Do you think this is a feasible idea? How much should I pay? Would I need to pay tax etc? What else would I need to offer for her baby?

Any advice would be really welcomed before I chat to her on Monday. Local rates for childminders for babies of this age are between £3.50-£4.00. Would I need some kind of contract to be drawn up?

Yes it's feasible. You'd be employing her as a nanny and nanny rates are usually higher than CM rates - you would need to pay at least minimum wage as she'd be live out.

You don't say whereabouts in the country you are but wages can go from £7/hour gross to double that. I doubt you'd be paying her enough each week for you to be liable for tax and NI but you'll need to check that.

You could offer to provide food etc for her baby. Search 'nanny with own child' or 'nanny share' threads on here for more things to consider. In fact - read any thread with nanny in the title, especially the ones about employing a nanny for the first time.

A contract is an absolute must. Bare mimimum is a written statement of employment. Nannyjob has a sample contract which several people on here have used and tweaked.

Good luck!

That's incredibly kind of you thank you - I'll look into local pay scales and at the nanny site - cheers!

I am not sure where you are and if bringing her own child I would suggest around £6 gross an hr and obv if only a few hrs a week wont be any tax/ni but best to agree gross in case she work elsewhere as well and goes over her tax threshold