Only two per cent of people who currently work in early years are male. Do you think there should be more effort to increase the numbers of men working in childcare and early years?
This section is for you if you are thinking of employing a nanny. It also provides some useful pointers if you are considering other types of childcare in your home. Nannies provide childcare in your own home and are a popular choice for some families. Nannies can look after children of any age and should provide fun and learning opportunities in a safe environment. They can often work flexible hours and can be a suitable option if you work at times when other forms of childcare are not available or suitable. Nannies can also be a good option if you have more than one child.
Making sure your child is safe, well cared for and is happy is one of the most vital concerns for any parent. Employing a nanny, like choosing other forms of childcare, is an important responsibility. Nannies are not required to be registered by law, so there are no legal requirements on a person applying to work as a nanny. It is up to you, as parent and employer, to make sure that you choose someone you are happy with and who is capable and experienced to look after your children well.
It is advisable to employ a nanny who is registered on the voluntary part of the Ofsted Childare Register (vOCR), in doing so you know that the individual has met specific requirements in order to do their job. Nannies who choose to become registered on the vOCR have undergone an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check, will hold an appropriate first aid qualification and will have training in the common core skills. They will also hold a Public Liability Insurance certificate. For further information about the vOCR see Ofsted's website, www.ofsted.gov.uk.
Although this guidance offers useful information, it does not provide any guarantee that your choice of a nanny will be completely satisfactory. Remember, it is your responsibility as their employer, but most importantly as a parent, to ensure that you are happy with the person that you employ to look after your children.
There are a few ways that you can employ a nanny, which include:
Live-in nannies who live with you and your family in your home. You provide them with food and a private bedroom in addition to their salary.
Daily nannies who come to your home each day to look after your child, but do not live with you. You may also want to arrange additional regular babysitting in the evenings as part of the terms of their employment, or on an ad hoc basis in exchange for extra pay.
These are individuals who usually work alongside you in your home, helping with childcare and general household work. Mother’s helps are unlikely to have formal childcare qualifications, but may be experienced.
These are people who are trained to take care of new babies for up to three months after the birth. They generally live with you in your home, but can also work as daily nurses or night nurses working and coming to your home at those specific times of day only. Although they are not necessarily trained nurses, as the name suggests, some may have had previous nursing experience.
These are often single young people, who come to the UK from other countries to study English and, whilst staying with families, help in the home for a maximum of five hours a day. They must have at least two full days off each week, and be provided with meals, an allowance and their own room. Au pairs are not usually trained to work with children and therefore are not generally considered as being suited to looking after pre-school children while parents are at work. However, they can be a good option for providing after-school childcare.
Nannies can provide you with high quality, stable and professional childcare, for which they need good working conditions and a well thought out job description. It is a good idea for you to prepare a contract of employment for your nanny.
When writing the job description and employment contract, you will need to think about the sorts of tasks you want your nanny to perform and what conditions you will offer them. You should think about including:
The specific duties they need to perform, for example is it purely caring for your child, looking after them, feeding them, providing fun and learning and fun opportunities, or do they need also to do household chores like washing and cooking. Some nannies are prepared to extra duties for the family as well as the child they are looking after, but some will not and this will need to be agreed with the person that you employ.
What hours and days you will need them to work. Will it be normal full working days or do you also need them to start very early or finish later in the evening to meet your families' needs?
Whether you want a live-in, daily nanny or a nanny share.
Whether your nanny is able to care for their own child at your house while looking after your children.
Whether you have any special requirements, for example:
Finding the right person, who can provide the care you need for your child and who fits in with your family situation, does take time, so try to begin your search as early as possible before you need your nanny to start work.
There are several different ways that you can find a nanny, these include:
A carefully conducted interview will help you to ensure you select the right person for the job. In order to shortlist potential individuals and interview them effectively you could:
Draw up a list of attributes to look out for.
Skills and knowledge:Although useful, the following list of questions is not meant to be comprehensive. You should add questions on issues that are important to you. For example, you may wish to ask about the nanny’s attitudes towards things like discipline, sweets, television, etc.
It is important to let your children meet the potential nanny. You do not need to tell your children that this might be their nanny when they are introduced. Observe how the individual interacts with your child. It may be a good sign if they pay more attention to them than to you. Take note of how your child responded.
Interviewing is a two-way process. Make sure you offer the nanny the chance to ask you questions.
Where possible, and if applicapable, give your new nanny a handover period with the nanny who is leaving. You could also offer your potential nanny a friend's number to call for a reference on you, if you are employing a nanny for the first time and there is no previous nanny for them to talk to.
During the interview you should fully explore any gaps in employment history. The section on Checking references and employment history gives more information about how this should be done.
Ask anyone you contact ‘open questions’ so that they can give you detailed information rather than 'yes' or 'no' answers. You should ask:
Follow up written references with a telephone call or by visiting the referees, if possible. People may be reluctant to admit to concerns on paper, but will sometimes share them 'off the record'.
If the nanny tells you about a period spent abroad they should provide sufficient evidence of this. Ensure that every gap you identify you follow up in your questioning.
If a candidate seems uncomfortable when you ask about gaps in their employment history or they seem unable to give a full or clear explanation, they could be concealing something, such as a criminal record, or a medical condition, which might indicate that they are unsuitable to be left in sole charge of your children.
Qualification certificates
Your nanny should show you the originals of their certificates of qualifications. Do NOT accept photocopies. Ask the awarding body of the qualification for verification if the original certificates have been lost.
Medical check
Ask your prospective nanny if they have any health problems and how many days off sick they took during the last period of employment. You can cross-check this information with referees. Would the potential nanny be prepared to obtain a GP's letter confirming their fitness to work with children, if necessary?
Nannies who are employed privately, that is, not through a third party like a nanny agency, do not have to register. However, if you are using a nanny who is employed through a nanny agency, they are required by law to be ISA registered. You could ask any potential nanny to become registered, although they may refuse. If this is the case, you can refuse to employ them.
If the nanny you want to employ is ISA registered, you will now be able to check their registration details online free of charge. In most cases you will also be able to seek Enhanced Disclosure (which will contain information on any criminal records) from the CRB. (Unlike other employers, as a parent, you are not obliged to check and will not face legal penalties for not doing so.)
For your own peace of mind it is advisable to employ a nanny who is on the ISA register. For further information see www.crb.gov.uk.
You should never:
You and your nanny need to work together to help your children learn, play and enjoy themselves in a safe and secure environment.
Inevitably, there will be ups and downs, but listen to your children and give them the opportunity, without interrogating them, to let you know how they feel about their nanny. Your understanding and support will help the nanny to help the children.
With babies and younger children pay attention to how they are feeling and be aware of any behavioural changes. A quiet time with you can give your children the chance to let you know about any troubles or worries that they may have.
Your children need to know that you trust their nanny and they also need to know you will listen to them and will take action if necessary.
Plan time, at least once a week, when your nanny can tell you how things are going. This is in addition to the times each day that you and your nanny exchange information on handing over the care of your child or children to each other. Your nanny should let you know what is going well and if there are problems that may need your attention. Ask questions about issues such as tantrums, crying babies or meal times.
A well trained nanny deserves your trust, respect and confidence in their abilities at all times. However, if either your nanny or your children let you know that there are difficulties, it is important that you try to resolve the problem.
If you sense that your children’s safety is at risk, make alternative childcare arrangements immediately - do not leave your nanny in sole charge of your child while you explore the nature of the problem.
In all other cases, where your child is definitely not at risk, you should try to help your nanny to address the problem.Generally, in dealing with any difficulties you should:
If there is a problem which is affecting the children's well-being, ask yourself:
Looking after children is a skilled and demanding job. Training equips nannies with the skills and confidence that they need to do the job well.
CACHE is the officially recognised Awarding Body for Early Years, Care and Education, and Playwork. Relevant qualifications awarded by CACHE include:
A number of other bodies award offer early years and childcare qualifications such as Vocationally Related Qualifications (VRQs), National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and General National Vocational Qualifications (GNVQs). There are also private colleges that provide specialist training in early years and childcare for nannies. There are many different early years and childcare qualifications which are appropriate for childcare settings. For further information about childcare qualifications contact the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC) on 0113 244 6311.
Many nannies are keen to improve their skills and acquire further qualifications. You could offer your nanny training opportunities by:It is good practice to provide your nanny with a written contract of employment. Although there is no legal obligation to provide a written contract, most employees who are employed for one month or more have a statutory right to receive a written statement setting out the main particulars of their employment within two months of starting work.
For further information on this see the information about written statement of employment particulars on www.businesslink.gov.uk in the 'Employing people' section.
A number of statutory rights apply to employees as soon as they start work, including protection against unlawful deductions from wages, against adverse treatment on grounds of sex, race or disability and against dismissal for seeking to enforce statutory employment rights. Other rights, such as the right to make a general complaint of unfair dismissal, apply on completion of a qualifying period of service.
For further information see the 'Employing people' section at www.businesslink.gov.uk.
Your nanny will need to know:
Where nannies are shared by more than one family it is especially important to arrange the details carefully from the outset, with separate written agreements between the nanny and each family involved, so that everyone knows exactly what is to be expected.
You can find information about writing employment contracts on www.businesslink.gov.uk. You can adapt information to create a contract that suits the arrangements to be set up between your family and your nanny. Once you and your nanny have agreed and signed the contract, each of you should keep a copy. The contract is then legally binding on both parties.
Alternatively contact Voice on 01332 372 337 for a copy of their Nanny Information Pack, which contains a sample contract of employment, describes the duties nannies are normally expected to undertake and offers advice on pay scales and insurance issues.
Your nanny's pay will depend on the type of job they are doing (live-in or live-out), the hours, the number of children they are caring for and the nanny's qualifications and experience. The area you live in will also have an effect on how much you pay your nanny, as different childcarers will be paid varying amounts depending on where in the country they work. (This can also vary from area to area within the same part of the country.)
Nannies are covered by the National Minimum Wage, which means you must pay at least £4.83 per hour to nannies aged 18 to 21, and £5.80 per hour to nannies aged 22 and over (as from 1 October 2009).
You must deduct tax and National Insurance from your nanny's pay unless you are paying less than the 'lower earnings limit'. This can be done through the Revenue's PAYE (Pay as You Earn) scheme. If you are paying your nanny less than the 'lower earnings limit' you will not need to make payments on their behalf, but they can still pay voluntary National Insurance contributions.
You need to pay your nanny's tax and National Insurance from the beginning of their employment.
How do I work out National Insurance contributions?
Call the Employer's Helpline on 08457 143143 for advice.
What if my nanny wants cash in hand?
The Revenue say it is very unusual for nannies to be classed as self- employed. Contact your tax office and ask a Status Inspector to advise you. Your nanny will need to prove to the Revenue that they are 'in control of the way the business is run' and is therefore acting as a self-employed person. Otherwise you could be fined and back payments will be required.
What about maternity pay and sick pay?
You will receive leaflets about these after you contact the Revenue. You can also contact their Employer's Helpline on 08457 143143 for information.
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