Considering a nanny?

A nanny is one of the childcare options open to working parents and is someone who cares for your child in your own home. They can be a daily nanny who comes to your house each day at hours agreed between you, a live-in nanny who lives in your home and will need a private bedroom and food, or a nanny-share who works for another family as well as yours. If there are more than two families nanny sharing, the nanny will need to be registered as a childminder. The average cost of a nanny in the outer London and home counties area is £203 per week for a live-in nanny or £262 for a daily nanny.

The advantages of having a nanny are:

• a nanny can provide hours tailored to suit your needs
• a nanny can care for all the children in your family
• a nanny may be trained
• a nanny can follow your own childcare routines and lifestyle
• your child remains in his own home (unless it’s a nanny share, in which case you may alternate homes)

The disadvantages of a nanny are:

• nannies are not currently registered by government regulatory bodies
• nannies may not be trained
• Tax and National Insurance must be deducted and it is your responsibility to do so

How to find a nanny

Ways of finding a nanny include using a Nanny agency; advertising – either placing an advert yourself or responding to one put in by a nanny; or by personal recommendation from another parent.

If you are unsure, then using a Nanny agency can help with the process of checking out qualifications and references of potential candidates. They also have expertise in drawing up a contract and dealing with tax and national insurance payments. Checking that your prospective nanny has no criminal record can be problematic. Currently it is the nanny herself that obtains the Criminal Conviction Certificate from a police station stating that she has no convictions. It is obviously still up to you to make the final decision and whether using an agency or not, the interview process must be thoroughly done. We are planning to include a guide to how to interview nannies and au pairs in the March/April issue of Family Interest Magazine.