A couple of questions for nanny trial week. Help!

[superdanovi]

Oh wise MNers, I could really use your input on this:
We seem to have found someone to look after DS (9 months) for about 15-20 hours a week. As I'm not working, this will be a mix of sole and joint charge. The nanny we have found has experience, her references were very good, she's OFSTED registered, CRB checked and most of all - we liked her (DS adored her).
She is starting a trial week with us tomorrow and I have 3 questions.
Having read all the advice on MN, we will obviously be paying her a gross salary and she's asking for the equivalent of £10 per hour net. Considering that this is a mix of joint and sole charge - is this reasonable, or should we try to negotiate (particularly given that in March, the position will move to FT sole charge when I return to work)? We live in Central London, Zone 1.
The other question regards payment of her trial week. We plan to use Nanny Tax or something of the ilk to sort out her salary, but if the trial week doesn't work out, how do we manage payment? Lastly, if I could be so bold... How would work out her holiday entitlement (should we decide to keep her obviously!)?
Thanks very much for your help.

10nett is a very good wage so think it depends on area you are in (london) and age and experience of nanny

how are the 15/20 set out?

is it 2 7/10hrs days or a few hours each day, ie every morning?

if a few hours a day then some nannies will charge a higher rate as its harder to fit in other work around it

i would pay cash for the trail week but sure others would disgaree

are you concerned it wont work out?

holiday - tbh not sure as depends on days - sure nick will be along to advise

5.6 weeks is the current quota but thats for 5 days

so if 2 days then it would be 11.2 days a year

Thanks blondes, I think it will be 3 afternoons per week. (we'll settle on the hours with her this week) I am hopeful that it will work, but I guess you never know, and I have a feeling she's been doing a trial with another family as well. She doesn't want to work full time, so I don't think she'll be looking for other work to fill the gaps, so I'm not sure if that's the reason she's asking for this much. She's not got masses of experience (2 years) but is in her 40's. Does that change stuff?

Actually blondes its 5.6 weeks regardless.

If shes working 2 days a week 11.2 days would be 5.6 weeks lol

very true about holiday - i didnt explain it well - will always be 5.6weeks

as prob 3 afternoons then the nanny should get 16.8 days a year -many round this to 17

i do think £10nett is a lot of money for someone who has had 2 years experience - esp if she is 40

sounds like she is deciding a career change

what has she been doing for last 20 odd years sine leaving school/college etc?

Sorry ladies, would you mind explaining how the holiday allowance is worked out for 3 afternoons a week? My sleep-deprived brain isn't getting it.
She's gone into nannying quite late, before 2007, she was doing a bunch of other stuff (not child related). Oh no, have I made a huge mistake ?

Why would you have made a mistake - you and your son like her, she's registered, has experience, great references. Every nanny starts her career at some point.

If she works 3 days then she gets 17 days holiday a year.

Salary wise... I expect it's about right for Central London, Part-Time, Live-Out. Sure you could negotiate it but you run the risk of the nanny not taking the job.

You say that this nanny doesn't want full time... yet from March you are wanting someone full time. Is that right? If so, is it worth even starting with this nanny? Would it not be better to find a nanny who will initially do part-time, then full-time come March? Or were you meaning it would still stay part-time in March, but it would be all sole charge?

Tax wise you should operate PAYE regardless of the amount of time they are in your employment... officially. If using a payroll company (there are others around that are lower cost than Nanny Tax) the payroll company will take care of most payroll things for you... that's what you pay them to do.

For part-time staff I feel it's best to work out Holiday Entitlement using the Hours method. Use the BusinessLink.gov.uk Holiday Calculator. If working 20 hours a week, then it's 112 hours holiday a year. If the hours of work vary each week, then try to work on the average amount and round up a bit perhaps. Consider what you will do about Bank/Public holidays. Most fall on a Monday but some are on other days of the week.

I'm a nanny in my mid 30's... I've certainly done other things in my past working life. Have only been nannying seriously for 5 years or so following being made redundant from an IT job. So while this person may only have been nannying a short while (2 years) they may have a lot of general experience with children from other paid or voluntary work plus their work ethics may be different from those of someone who has only ever done nannying - for example they may have worked in high pressure jobs in the past, where being late for work, not meeting targets, were not acceptable - thus they are very reliable timekeeping wise and quite well organised.

1. Whatever you feel is fair for the nanny's 'worth' is fair as long as she is happy with it. £10 net is high, I don't earn that and have more experience but then again I'm considerably younger!

1. Officially, of course, you should do everything properly, be that using NannyTax or doing it yourself. Personally, I would take cash for a trial week which didn't work.

1. Nick has answered much better than I can!

Thanks everyone, feeling very grateful for the advice.
nn, not too worried about her lack of experience really... our gut feeling was positive and most of all, our little boy (who has become the most discerning of customers..) liked her.
With regards to March, we would need childcare full time, sole charge. Obviously, looking for a someone who could start PT and then move on to FT was our goal, but we didn't find anyone. My mother has offered to help us fill the gaps so we should be OK.
As you mentioned Bank Holidays, may I ask what the norm is and how this is worded in contracts? Feeling very out of my depth here! Thanks again.

No such thing as norm these days, as some parents have to work on Bank holidays.
The 5.6 weeks holiday entitlement CAN INCLUDE bank holidays, so if you didn't want your nanny working on a bank holiday you could get them to take that as annual leave.
For a full time nanny in the past, the norm was 4 weeks holiday plus bank holidays. But with the changes to holiday entitlement, the number of weeks holiday takes into account the bank holidays, so if you do offer them off as additional leave then you are very nice employer - and everyone wants to work for a nice employer!

I think wording in contracts is something along the lines of: Holiday Entitlement - You are entitled to statutory holiday. Currently this is 5.6 weeks. Holiday is to be agreed in advance by giving at least two weeks prior notice. Granting of holiday requests will be at the discretion of the employer.

Something like that... If you will definitely not be requiring someone to work on a public/bank holiday ever, you could add a statement in about that. But you may prefer to put that in a Nanny Handbook type document, which is read alongside the contract (but is easier to update, as does not require a full contract rewrite).

Holiday Leaflet from ACAS (PDF) - useful document which tells you about a workers Holiday Entitlement and the legal rules regarding it.

nn you are, if I may say so, a jedi knight.