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Finding and choosing nannies

 

 

 

 

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.

How this information can help you

This information will help you to:

• decide whether a nanny is the right childcare option for your family;
• plan your nanny’s job;
• advertise the job vacancy/find a nanny;
• choose potential nannies to interview;
• plan and carry out interviews;
• check your nanny before employment starts; and
• support your nanny in the job.

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.

1. What are the different types of home-based childcare?

• Nannies
• Other types of childcare in the home

2. Choosing a nanny

• Writing a job description
• Advertising/finding a nanny
• Selecting and interviewing
• Checking references and employment history

3. Working with your nanny

• What you should expect
• What you should provide
• Listen to your children
• Listen to your nanny
• Taking action

4. Useful information about employing nannies

• Training
• Contract of employment
• Statutory employment rights
• Pay
• Tax and National Insurance

1. What are the different types of home-based childcare?

Nannies

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.

• A nanny-share is an arrangement where you share a nanny with another family. (If a nanny is shared by three or more families at any one time, they are required by law to register as a childminder.) Increasing numbers of families are choosing nanny shares as they provide a solution to their part-time childcare needs and an affordable alternative - sharing the costs of employing a nanny with another familiy. By registering on a nanny sharing website, such as www.nannyshare.co.uk, you can find other families who are looking to share a nanny who live in your area. Daycare Trust do not recommend or endorse the products or services of this company.

Other types of childcare in the home

Mother's helps

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. 

Maternity nurses

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.

Au pairs

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.

2. Choosing a nanny

There are four main steps that you need to think about and plan for in order to select a nanny, which are:

1. Write a job description.
2. Advertising/find a nanny.
3. Select and interview candidates.
4. Check references and employment history.

Writing a job description

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:

  • Are you occasionally away from home overnight?
  • Will your children need babysitting?
  • Do you want a non-smoker?
  • Do you want your nanny to speak another language?
• Whether your nanny has any skills, experiences or preferences, such as:
  • If you have pets, do they like animals?
  • Do they hold a driving licence?
  • Do they have their own car?
  • Do they have experience of children with special needs?
• How much you intend to pay:
  • in wages or salary; and
  • in any extra costs that are associated with employing a nanny, for example, for outings and leisure activities, which your nanny will organise for your child, or mileage expenses for a nanny using their own car whilst performing their duties.
• The terms and conditions of employment.

Advertising/finding a nanny

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:

• Contact a nanny recruitment agency, many of which advertise in specialist magazines, such as 'The Lady' or 'Nursery World', which are available from larger newsagents. For a fee, a nanny agency will match your specifications with those of potential candidates. You will then interview each of the candidates and decide for yourself if any of them are suitable. Even though a reputable agency should have carefully vetted any nannies registered with them, you should still ask the agency to tell you precisely what checks they have undertaken. Ultimately, you must rely on your own judgement -if you are not satisfied with an individual, you can usually trust your instinct.
• If you want a nanny share, you can register with a nanny sharing website, such as www.nannyshare.co.uk. Daycare Trust do not recommend or endorse the products or services of this company. By registering on a website like this, you can add details of your family and your childcare requirements (the nanny sharing situation you are looking to find). Other families in your area can then view your details and may choose you to share a nanny with or you can look for families who are already registered and see if they match your own needs.
• Place an advertisement in a magazine or your local paper.
• Contact local colleges of further education that offer courses in childcare, if you are prepared to take on someone straight from college - training usually ends in June. Newly trained nannies will be relatively inexperienced and may not be especially suited to looking after very young babies.
• Put an advertisement on local notice boards where potential nannies might look for new jobs, for example, primary schools and drop-in clubs for parents, nannies and children.
• Talk to other parents or join local parents' organisations, like the National Childbirth Trust (for your local branch call the NCT Enquiry Line on 0300 330 0770). Your advertisement needs to detail - hours, duties, ages of children (for safety reasons not their names), and the area where you live (not your actual address). You may want to ask potential nannies to write to a PO box number (your local post office will tell you how to get one) rather than you giving out your telephone number - although this may reduce the number of applications that you receive. Ask people to send details of their age, experience, qualifications, employment history and a covering letter explaining why they would like to apply for the post.

Selecting and interviewing

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:

• Make a shortlist of potential nannies by going through the applications and then talking to applicants on the phone.
• Set up interview appointments - allow about an hour for each applicant.
• Arrange for a friend, your partner or a relative to interview with you.
• Prepare a list of questions to ask each potential nanny.
• Put the same questions to each applicant.
• Take notes at each interview.

What to look out for

Draw up a list of attributes to look out for.

Skills and knowledge:

• Childcare and child development qualifications.
• Ability to plan and arrange safe, fun learning opportunities.
• Nutrition - planning and preparing healthy meals and snacks.
• First aid training.
• Driving experience, if required.
• Organisational skills.

 Attitudes:

• Interest in children as individuals.
• Confident personality.
• Resourceful personality.

Experience:

• Experience of working with children of different ages.
• Experience of working with children with disabilities or special education needs (if appropriate).

Questions to ask during an interview

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.

• How long have you been a nanny for?
• What ages of children have you worked with?
• Why do you enjoy working with children?
• What do you think are your particular strengths when working with children?
• What aspects of this particular job do you think you will enjoy?
• Have you undertaken any training in childcare and child development and, if so, how long were the courses?
• Do you have qualifications and, if so, what are they?
• How long ago did you take these qualifications? 
• Are there areas of your work that you plan to improve?
• What would you do if... (give an example of an emergency or similar situation where an individual's initiative would need to be used) …?
• How might you spend the day with my child? (Ask them to give examples of the sorts of activites that they might fill the day with and take note of developmental opportunities and varierty offered.)
• Do you think your own childhood helped you to become a good nanny?
• Why are you looking to leave your current position? (If appropriate, otherwise ask what made them leave their last job as a nanny.)
• What difficulties, with parents or children you were/are caring for, have you experienced as a nanny and how did you resolve these issues?
• What are your views on families sharing a nanny? (If appropriate - you want to set up a nanny-share.)
• How many days in sickness absence have you had in the last 12 months?

Discuss with your potential nanny:

• The wage or salary (with details about tax and National Insurance arrangements).
• How payment will be made, monthly or weekly, by cheque or directly into a bank account, etc.
• The hours and duties of the job, referring to the job description if necessary.
• When you would want them to to start.
• What holiday entitlements will be and whether they would be willing to take them at certain times - for example, to fit in with school terms or your annual leave.
• The length of the probationary period.
• Positive discipline strategies - Remember a trained childcare worker would never use physical punishment as a form of discipline.
• Child safety: in the home (including dealing with pets); when using public transport; and, where appropriate, when using a car (seat belts, car’s capacity, etc.) – the Child Accident Prevention Trust  produces leaflets and checklists on all aspects of child safety in the home and all childcare settings for both parents and childcare workers.

What do your children think?

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.

What does the nanny want to ask you?

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.

Explore the nanny's employment history

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.

Checking references and employment history

As there are currently no legal requirements on a person applying for a job as a nanny, you, as the employer, must be confident, as far as possible, that you are making the right decision. Your nanny should expect you to check their identity, background, qualifications and employment history.

  

Always ask for:

• Proof of identity
  Proof of identity (two of the following: passport, driving licence, birth certificate). Insist on originals, as photocopying can disguise forgeries. At least one of these forms of identity must carry a photograph.
• References
  Always ask for at least two referees, even when the nanny is from a nanny agency. One referee should be the nanny’s last or present employer. If your potential nanny is a student straight from college, you should ask not only for a reference from the college tutor, but also for a separate reference from their final year placement.

Contacting referees

Ask anyone you contact ‘open questions’ so that they can give you detailed information rather than 'yes' or 'no' answers. You should ask:

• For a description of the nanny’s work for the time they employed the nanny.
• How they rated the care of the children.
• Why the nanny left. (You can check this against the reason given by the nanny to see if there is any variation.)
• What the nanny's strengths and weaknesses are/were.
• If they foresee any difficulties if the nanny is to be left in sole charge of your child.
• About health problems and sick leave taken during the period of employment.
• Whether they would re-employ them.

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'.

• A full employment history
  Ask your nanny to give you a full employment history - covering all work done since they left full-time education. Make sure the details of employment history are given in terms of months, for example, ’July 2008 to September 2009’ rather than just in years. Identify all gaps and ask for the reasons why.

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?

• Criminal records check
  There is no nationally agreed system for the checking of criminal records of people who are privately applying for a post as a nanny. However, with the introduction of the Vetting Barring Scheme (introduced on 12 October 2009) a nanny can choose to apply to be on the ISA (Independent Safeguarding Authority) register. This would allow any parent, who they apply for a job with, to check their background and check for any criminal convictions. 

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.

Remember

You should never:

• Employ a nanny without first checking references and employment history.
• Ignore unexplained gaps or discrepancies - always check them out until you are completely satisfied as to the reasons why.

If in doubt, ask your nanny for a second interview. Ask your partner, a relative or a  a friend to be present. Prepare your questions before the interview. Continue to explore gaps in employment history. If you are inviting a candidate for a second interview, ask them to bring along any evidence that will confirm what they have told you about the gaps in their employment history.

 

3. Working with your nanny

You and your nanny need to work together to help your children learn, play and enjoy themselves in a safe and secure environment.

What you should expect:

• Training - childcare qualifications tell you the nanny is committed to this career and they have taken the opportunity to learn about childcare and child development.
• Experience - a new nanny will need more support from you.
• The nanny to respond to children's individual needs.
• A resourceful approach to working with children - the nanny should look for new ideas. * Planned activities from day to day and week to week.
• Plenty of fun opportunities for children to learn - to develop their strengths and help them with their weaknesses.
• Regular feedback from your nanny about the children's well-being, the activities of the day, etc. and the job in general.
• Your nanny to tell you if there is a problem and to ask for help when necessary.
• Trust and respect for you as a family and confidentiality concerning matters private to your family.  

What you should provide:

• Clear details of hours and duties.
• Good working conditions and a well thought out job description.
• A written contract of employment.
• A safe, clean home with plenty of ‘fun-to-learn’ equipment, like dough and paint.
• Information about local parks, playgrounds, nanny clubs and drop-in clubs. (Although a nanny will probably research this themselves as well and develop their own information.)
• Contact numbers for you, your partner, iff applicable, a relation or another responsible adult who knows the family well.
• Details of the family doctor.
• Contact numbers for the school(s) of any older children or any other childcare facilites you may be using.
• Clear guidance on your child's health (including allergies, medicines, diet, and sleep preferences), discipline, special routines, favourite toys and games, etc.
• Written permission to administer medication to your child and to seek medical advice when necessary.
• A regular time to talk with and listen to your nanny.
• Employer and public liability insurance - you can get this from your home insurance providers. (If you do not let your insurers know you are employing a nanny you may invalidate your household insurance.)

Listen to your children

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.

Listen to your nanny

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.

Taking action

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:

• Ask for more information.
• Listen and uncover the nature and extent of the problem.
• Try to find out if external factors are the cause of, or are aggravating, the problem (for example, your nanny's mother is ill, your child is worried about starting at playgroup).
• Decide what help you can offer.
• Check that this resolves the problem.  

If there is a problem which is affecting the children's well-being, ask yourself:

• Can the problem be dealt with by the nanny alone?
• Can we overcome the problem together?
• Can the nanny help the family/children cope with the problem? 

Finally, if all attempts to resolve the problem have failed and you are faced with a difficult decision-making meeting, offer your nanny the opportunity to bring a friend, and have someone there for you too. If the situation cannot be resolved, negotiate an end to the work agreement which is least disruptive for all parties involved.

4. Useful information about employing nannies

Training

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.

Examples of qualifications to look out for

CACHE is the officially recognised Awarding Body for Early Years, Care and Education, and Playwork. Relevant qualifications awarded by CACHE include:

• Certificate or Diploma in Childcare and Education (this covers working with children under eight, including those with special needs).
• Level 3 Diploma in Home-based Childcare (created with the National Childminding Association, this course gives nannies the skills to develop children aged 0 to 16) .
• BTEC National Certificate or Diploma in Early Years (this course covers good practice in a range of childcare settings).

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:

• Arranging for them to attend a first aid course.
• Allowing time off to go to college for child development qualifications.

Contract of employment

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.

Statutory employment rights

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:

• hours of work;
• the job description - what you expect them to do;
• probationary period - to try out arrangements before you and your nanny commit yourselves to a more permanent agreement;
• salary and salary reviews;
• holiday arrangements;
• sick pay entitlements; and
• notice period.

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.

Pay

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).

 

For guidance about how much you should pay:

• Contact the Revenue's Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0845 6000 678 or see their website http://payandworkrightscampaign.direct.gov.uk.
• Ask local nanny agencies for guidance.
• Contact Voice: the union for education professionals on 01332 372 337.

For advice and guidance:

1. Telephone your local tax office - look them up in your telephone book.
2. Ask to be put through to the 'New Employers Section'.
3. Explain that you are employing a nanny and ask for the 'Simplified Deduction Scheme'.
4. Tell the tax office the amount you expect to pay: check it is above the 'lower earnings limit'.
5. You will be sent a tax office reference number and a 'New Employers Starter Pack'.
6. If your nanny has already started, request provisional figures over the phone.

You need to pay your nanny's tax and National Insurance from the beginning of their employment.

 

Questions you may have 

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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