HELP is at hand at HOME
When people talk about having a nanny I used to conjure up an image of a lady in a white starched blouse that has a very intimidating presence and who completely takes over from my input as a mother in the bringing up of my children. Eight years of running Freedom Childcare and placing nannies with hundreds of families has reformed my early perceptions.
Nannies these days have a much more relaxed and flexible attitude to their duties without loosing any professionalism or base of knowledge, they are experts in their field but guided very much from the parent. One of our interview a question is “How would you create a routine within a new family?” 99% of the answers start with I would have a detailed conversation with the parents to find out what the routine already is!!
Families are unique and can have specific requirement regarding discipline, health, lifestyle and diet. A nanny has to be diverse and unique to be able to fit well within a family unit. The benefits of using a nanny as your main childcare provision or to help with some of your childcare requirements are as follows:
- Flexibility of working hours, increase and decrease hours to suit needs, weekends evenings.
- Unusual working patterns: changing days from 1 week to the next
- Overnight requirements
- Continuity
- Parent lead prescriptive care
- Close personal relationships built between Nanny & parents & Nanny & children
- Cost effective, more so for multiple children
- Transportation – nanny comes to you, school runs.
- Children in their own surroundings
- Help with child related domestic chores
- Other general domestic help
- Sickness cover – no exclusion policies
- School closure day cover
- Support with organising daily activities, clubs etc
- Allows more of the Parents time with the children to be quality time as other chores can be worked into nannies routine—ie packed lunches food preparation etc
- Short term help for new parent / new babies to help with routines and SLEEP!!
- Ability for parents to attend weekend event/ work commitments
The spectrum of care is vast but some of the main categories are:
Trainee Nanny
We can place a trainee with your family this would be a young person, who would also complete an NVQ formal training programme whilst in placement. They would be paid minimum wage for their training period. This is only suitable in a closely supervised environment where a parent/grandparent/guardian was at home to guide and support the trainee.
Mothers Help
This is exactly as the name suggests; an extra pair of hands, this would normally be a young person maybe newly qualified wishing to gain more experience for her CV in a safe supervised environment. Ideal for stay at home mums, parents that work from home, periods whilst pregnant or after having a new baby to help mum.
Sole Charge Nanny
This is an experienced/qualified nanny who would be fully responsible for the day to day care of the children. In some cases this can be for period of time when the parents are away from home.
Holiday Nanny
A nanny that would come on holiday with your family to help facilitate their care whilst you are way—very popular with families that ski or sail.
Nannies Duties
A nanny (within the parameters of her employment terms) is pretty much there to do anything with the children that you yourself as a parent would be. They can collect them from school, take to clubs, drop off at activities, do homework, prepare food, shopping etc. Domestic duties are usually directly linked to the care of the children so these may include childrens ironing, washing, keeping childrens rooms clean and tidy, changing beds etc. However each individual family may require a role to be combined for instance so for example 30 hours of childcare plus 10 hours cleaning and housework. As long as this is acceptable to the applicants, this is perfectly fine.
Expenses
You would be expected to supply nanny with a fund for expenses such as shopping for food, activities and petrol allowances.
Other things to consider
If you are recruiting a nanny you would be required to pay their tax and national insurance also ensure you have employers liability insurance and your ensure house / contents insurance covers you to have an employee in your home.
Why use an agency?
As an agency we would ask you about your requirements ensuring we get you to think about your needs and highlighting anything that you may have over looked, from this we can put a job specification together ensuring your needs are met and we generate suitable applicants.
We meet all our families in their own home at a mutually convenient time. This meeting helps us discuss your requirement in a relaxed & informal environment. We also get a feel for your family and then have much more information about you and your children enabling us to place a nanny successfully.
We are experienced in interviewing in the childcare sector and have an 8 year ongoing data base of previous applicants and staff at our finger tips. We can ensure all the hard work is taken out of the advertising, interviewing vetting and selection. We will present you with suitable pre vetted and interviewed applicants that meet your criteria—in most cases we get it right first time!!
We can also offer:
- Back up care if nanny is sick, wants to go on holiday or requires maternity leave,
- Impartial advice, a 4 weeks unsuitable re recruitment policy,
- On going mentoring training and support.
Types of recruitment
Permanent, Full or Part time Nanny recruitment
We would act as an agent and a fee would be required for recruiting a suitable nanny.
A deposit would be required initially and once you have made your selection you would pay our one off fee and the nanny would become your employee. You would then become responsible for paying the nanny and all Tax/NI and insurance issues.
Flexible nanny
We employ a bank of nannies that you can use after registering to our services.
These nanny’s can be used for regular or irregular childcare and we can allocate a regular nanny to your family. The nanny would be employed by us and you would pay us an hourly rate for the hours you use, invoiced on a monthly basis.
Both options can be live in or live out or sleep over on an occasional basis. For permanent live in positions a live in allowance can be deducted from the nannies salary.
Help with Costs
Nannies can now be registered with OFSTED!!
This means families can claim up to 80% of their costs back using Tax Credits and Salary Sacrifice vouchers. These befnits can be used by families earning up to £55,000 a year!!!!
My Story
Due to a change in personal circumstances I have personally just employed a nanny to help me with my children and my life has been transformed!!!
I return home from work in the evenings to a tidy house with two children who have done their homework, had their dinner, had some form of exercise: clubs, bike rides etc, changed out of their school uniforms which are ready for the next day, dogs fed, rabbits fed, dishwasher emptied, and some days even supper ready for me!!!
Having a nanny has changed the time I spend with my children from a facilitator into a mother. We now have more time to sit and talk, play games, read and generally have much more quality time together as a family.
My children have developed a close personal bond with our nanny, she has enhanced all our lives. It also means I am more focused when I’m at work, which in turn brings its own benefits.
If you have any questions on recruiting a nanny or childcare in general please call our free phone help line on 08000 851444
Fran Cooper
Freedom Childcare
