Anyone got a nanny??
Discussion
Just in principle of not wanting to pay 20 grand in nursary fees for 2 children I’m starting to interview for nannies. The extra flexibility will be perfect for us, as like most couples both me and wifey work full time.
So the questions for anyone that has one is what sort of working arrangements did you put in the contract with your nanny? So things like holiday, sick pay, number of hours per week etc.
I want to pay a fair amount and not want to screw anyone. But to cover the hours needed they will need to work around 40-50hrs per week - depends on traffic to an extent and if we are traveling to London, working from local office or indeed working from home.
So do you go for a base of 40hr and then pay overtime? Or allow extra to be done either paid or taken as holiday time? I was thinking of paying 9/hour .....which is more than they currently get as I’m recruiting from local nurseries who are all on NMW for about 16k a year.
Also any other nanny advice and tips would be great.
So the questions for anyone that has one is what sort of working arrangements did you put in the contract with your nanny? So things like holiday, sick pay, number of hours per week etc.
I want to pay a fair amount and not want to screw anyone. But to cover the hours needed they will need to work around 40-50hrs per week - depends on traffic to an extent and if we are traveling to London, working from local office or indeed working from home.
So do you go for a base of 40hr and then pay overtime? Or allow extra to be done either paid or taken as holiday time? I was thinking of paying 9/hour .....which is more than they currently get as I’m recruiting from local nurseries who are all on NMW for about 16k a year.
Also any other nanny advice and tips would be great.
We had about 10 nannies.
My fav was the one who had been sick on by one of the kids and I walked in from work and she was in her bra and knickers in the kitchen washing her dress.
Our worse one was English and was charging us extra for nursery lessons a couple of times a week which we thought fair enough until we discovered she was dropping our kids off with a child minder and making us pay.
One of our best was from the Czech Republic who was a wonder with the kids and me and her still remain friends to this very day. As in mates ok.
The other brilliant ones were also from the Czech Republic.
My fav was the one who had been sick on by one of the kids and I walked in from work and she was in her bra and knickers in the kitchen washing her dress.
Our worse one was English and was charging us extra for nursery lessons a couple of times a week which we thought fair enough until we discovered she was dropping our kids off with a child minder and making us pay.
One of our best was from the Czech Republic who was a wonder with the kids and me and her still remain friends to this very day. As in mates ok.
The other brilliant ones were also from the Czech Republic.
LosingGrip said:
croyde said:
My fav was the one who had been sick on by one of the kids and I walked in from work and she was in her bra and knickers in the kitchen washing her dress.
Sounds like the start of a porn film! 
I'm Robin Asquith.
She was actually pretty unreliable and one day she just didn't turn up for work and rung us saying she was in hospital with cancer. My BiL rang her on his phone and she answered.
She was out clubbing.
Actually sends a shiver down my spine when I think that we were letting our kids be looked after by people we had only vetted ourselves.
I suppose an reputable agency is the way forward.
sounds like a lot more hassle than it's worth. You'd have to offer workplace pension and insurance etc etc. Plus probably camera the house up, install safe and locks etc. Considering the number of s
t tradesmen i've had through the house i wouldn't feel 100% confident that the first nanny we hired would be a keeper. Plus, nursery isn't just to babysit the kids whilst you are doing other things, they do actually learn and get socialised with other kids etc.
t tradesmen i've had through the house i wouldn't feel 100% confident that the first nanny we hired would be a keeper. Plus, nursery isn't just to babysit the kids whilst you are doing other things, they do actually learn and get socialised with other kids etc. PinkFatBunny said:
Just in principle of not wanting to pay 20 grand in nursary fees for 2 children I’m starting to interview for nannies. The extra flexibility will be perfect for us, as like most couples both me and wifey work full time.
Am in the same position as you, and am on 2nd Nanny. Our first nanny we found via an agency, but sort of indirectly - we had interviewed one nanny who decided she didn't want the gig, but passed on our details to a friend. I think we kind of got lucky. Agencies should make sure that a nanny has good references etc. You really have to like the nanny, so interview them well. The agency will advise hours, holidays, salary sample contracts etc. But to give you an idea, you're paying their gross, not their net, although the nanny themselves will work on net. You generally want to pay for their OFSTED registration (so you can use childcare vouchers to pay them) and various things like First Aid courses (because why wouldn't you?). You do have to pay pension but that's totally minimal. We did change some of the wording of the contract - for example we made sure that the nanny didn't have a claim to get extra money when we had more kids (we have had a nanny since we had one, got two now). We made sure that it's up to the nanny to do washing/ironing of the kids clothes. We pay them a salary monthly and we give them a bit of a Christmas bonus. Ours work 7am-7pm mon-thur as my wife doesn't work on Fridays.
Unless you don't want your kids to be socialised and/or you live in an area with lots of activities close by, you'll need to give them use of a car. They'll probably bump it. Remember that they'll look upon you as 'work'. It's a 'work' car....
In terms of cost, don't look for change out of 40K a year for full time for a 'proper' nanny, plus incidental expenses.
We found that being as decent as we could be has stood us in good stead. We've tried really hard to be fair and organised in our day-to-day, and been clear about what we expect from them. You will find that nanny's have networks - facebook etc, We called them the 'nanny mafia' - but it was positive for us - our Nanny liked us and her job and this gets around - it means that if your nanny (as ours did) decides she wants to leave (we had 7 years out of her), other nannies will want the gig. It's also the case that these networks mean that your kids go on playdates, do activities and get socialised and so on, as they all meet up and do stuff. On the contrary, there are parents who are basically blacklisted because they do stuff like constantly come home after the nanny should have left with no communication and this gets around.
As your kids grow up and go to school, you'll think that you'll need fewer hours and it gets cheaper - it doesn't massively because you still need to cover school holidays etc.
We considered a Nanny/Au Pair as we have a completely self contained apartment/annex as part of our property, which has always sat completely unused, and it seemed like an ideal opportunity to use it for housing a nanny/au pair.
We know a couple of people who have done something very similar and it seemed to work out for them. They simply sourced a European girl who was looking for work, offered them a 'granny flat' or spare en-suite room, bought them a £1000 Vauxhall Corsa, paid their bills, fed them, and then paid them a couple of hundred quid a week.
Everyone was happy.
But....
We just weren't sure how competent or trustworthy they would be, plus, the local nursery actually do loads of educational, interesting, and social stuff with the kids every day, and don't just babysit them. The kids themselves also benefit a lot from mixing and learning with other kids. They also get used to going somewhere for the day, not just staying at home, which also helps prepare them for starting school.
We decided the difference in cost between nanny vs nursery was 100% worth paying as it would be better for our kid (In our opinion)
We know a couple of people who have done something very similar and it seemed to work out for them. They simply sourced a European girl who was looking for work, offered them a 'granny flat' or spare en-suite room, bought them a £1000 Vauxhall Corsa, paid their bills, fed them, and then paid them a couple of hundred quid a week.
Everyone was happy.
But....
Blown2CV said:
sounds like a lot more hassle than it's worth. You'd have to offer workplace pension and insurance etc etc. Plus probably camera the house up, install safe and locks etc. Considering the number of st tradesmen i've had through the house i wouldn't feel 100% confident that the first nanny we hired would be a keeper. Plus, nursery isn't just to babysit the kids whilst you are doing other things, they do actually learn and get socialised with other kids etc.
This.t tradesmen i've had through the house i wouldn't feel 100% confident that the first nanny we hired would be a keeper. Plus, nursery isn't just to babysit the kids whilst you are doing other things, they do actually learn and get socialised with other kids etc. We just weren't sure how competent or trustworthy they would be, plus, the local nursery actually do loads of educational, interesting, and social stuff with the kids every day, and don't just babysit them. The kids themselves also benefit a lot from mixing and learning with other kids. They also get used to going somewhere for the day, not just staying at home, which also helps prepare them for starting school.
We decided the difference in cost between nanny vs nursery was 100% worth paying as it would be better for our kid (In our opinion)
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