How on earth does anyone afford a nanny ... feeling despondent!

Nope. full time. catering for evening dinner parties too. Fully aware - employer refuses to do anything about it. It's disgusting, these are wealthy people.

If that is 5 hours per day then may not be that bad but if it is 10-12 hours per day then not so good.

Why did they apply for those jobs? Sure they may not have known it was cash-in-hand but they should have known working hours and pay prior to accepting.

Are they aware that they should be having their taxes deducted from their salary? If not, then is that information not getting to certain nannies for a reason, language barriers, isolation, something else? Hard to report an employer when they provide a roof over your head, so makes for a difficult situation. Guess that is why those families do it, they know the chance of being reported are slim. What can be done to give workers like them more protection?

Cindy34 I know of three live-in nannies who work 6 days a week and are paid about £250 per week cash because their employers refuse to do it properly.

Through social media many more young people are aware that their employers must declare their earnings to HMRC, so whilst there are bound to be some people still accepting cash-in-hand, many nannies will be being paid correctly.

It is hard to know though as there is:

No central register of childcare workers.

No central register of parents who have someone working in their home.

The total number of people working as a nanny in the UK is unknown. There is a figure of 100,000 that sometimes comes up but I can't find where that ever came from - maybe a census many years ago.

There is a known number of those on the Ofsted childcare register but some of those will be over8's childminders.

Each nanny payroll company knows how many nannies are working but they don't share that figure with anyone. Some payroll companies are big others are tiny.

HMRC don't know how many nannies there are. If parents are not running payroll correctly then HMRC won't know.

There are nannies who work so part time that they earn under the amount where their pay needs to be declared.

So whilst cash-in-hand does still happen I feel it probably happens less than it used to as more people are aware that taxes have to be paid. Nannies will stand up for their rights more, they talk to each other via Facebook groups, Whats App, so I feel they are more aware of what rights they should have at work. Perhaps I'm wrong. An isolated nanny may well not know that they should have tax deducted from their pay. How many are isolated now... given the internet, social media and smartphones.

I hope the days of cash-in-hand are numbered, though I doubt it will ever disappear completely.

Does anyone know a nanny being paid £300-500 per week cash-in-hand, is that really still happening?

No bluecarpet I have never paid cash (always through NannyPaye, including redundancy pay and maternity pay).

mrsfogi I think what you really mean is that lots of people pay cash. Fine - if you want to take the risk. I know someone whose nanny left after a disagreement - soon afterwards HMRC got in touch about her paying cash. She had a huge fine and the next year her and her husband got their tax returns audited. If you are a professional in the finance industry, or a medic or various other things, being found to have avoided tax in this way could be career threatening.

lots of people do it, most don't get caught. you feelin' lucky?

Could you have your 2 year old in nursery and the older two go to an after school club?

bluecarpet I was in London whilst employing childcare (and plenty of other friends in London have done the same). RooToo really look outside mn as many people don't dare to say they are paying less than top whack qualified nanny rates but lots are in rl.

I'd be amazed if there was any overlap between tax credit income and affording a nanny income. Happy to be corrected though! Just a stealth ad for the agency.....

What is the maximum income a family can have and still be able to claim childcare element of working tax credit? I imagine that it is only available to low income families and thus they would not typically have a nanny, or is that a misconception of working tax credit?

Hi
Have you looked into an Ofsted registered nanny then you can claim some back through Working Tax? I have a small family run nanny agency. Email me for more help if you need it: [email protected]

Just qual Norland apparently command higher salaries then many years qual NNEB /btec nannies etc

And yes us qualified nannies who studied hard at college to get a childcare qualification get very offended when people just decide they can look after children and try and command same salary as we have earnt over the years

Yes a nanny is a cost. But a good one is worth and esp with 3 children

Agree don't look at using all your salary. So work out from you and hubby

It won't be forever

Mums usually do it as keeps their career going. if they have a career/baby break they will lose their position. They want more then be just mum. It's not forever paying high childcare fees

chablis your nanny should pay her own insurance and first aid - it's part of being a professional nanny

Plus if you ever have to sue her for costs due to medical /long term care - insurance may not pay out as kinda suing yourself

In London, the sort of people you refer to MrsFogi still command nanny type salaries!

You could look for a trainee norland nanny or a just qualified one. A bit cheaper but have been through plenty of childcare experience. If you're in London then you shd be quite popular.

No doubt I will get flamed for suggesting it but here goes - Also consider whether you need a qualified nanny or someone who is nice, has common sense and you can get a CRB check and references for. I had two ladies each for 4 years who were brilliant, were not qualified but were young and bright and great with my from the age of 1-recenlty. One was a friend one of my friend's childcarer (ie doing a nanny job but without a childcare certificate) and the other I found on gumtree (she had been an au pair for a year before). Very few people can afford the sort of sums talked about as the "norm" for nannies in and around London but if you look people are still working (despite often being told on mn they shouldn't if they can't afford £30-40K per year out of their post-tax salary) and have full time childcare.

I wouldn't look on it in terms of how much of your salary it eats up.

Combine your salaries and look at your disposable income. Can you afford it? If so, then what's the issue?

Define "part-time"?

Have you got space for an au pair? It might be cheaper to have an au pair and put your 2yo into nursery now, to be picked up at lunchtime and then taken on the school run when your older children finish school? If they typically do camps and activities in the school holidays then you can get away with not going over his/her allotted hours.

Its not ideal but yes it is damn expensive to have a nanny. A CM will have to watch his/her ratios as two older children in school will use up two "places"

Sympathies. I earn in the high five figures and worked out that after tax, pension and a nanny I was taking home around £6 per hour. It caused me to completely re-evaluate my career and I now work for part of the week at home, for less money - but I have more in my pocket at the end of the week as no childcare.

I wouldn't rule out a nanny share or nanny with own child - certainly worth considering it.

Think that last bit is wrong:

How exactly the scheme will work is unknown but this is based on what I know so far. With luck the child funds won't have to be of equal amounts, so it may be possible to do:
£8000 + £8000 + £6880 = £22,880 + Government Topup of £5720 = £28,600
Cost to parent:
£22880 + £4041.91 + £200 = £27,121.91

Looking at Tax Free Childcare it looks like you would get:

Childcare Cost:
Gross salary £37,401.18
Employers NI: £4,041.91
Payroll Admin: £200
Total childcare cost for claim: £41,643.09

Amount paid into each child fund: £8000
Government amount paid per child: £2000
Total: £30,000 (£2500 per month)
Parent pays nanny directly: £28,600

Therefore adjustment needs to occur...

Amount paid into each child fund: £7944
Government amount paid per child: £1588.80
Total per child: £9532.80
Nanny paid from account: £28,571.40
Parent pays nanny direct: £28.60
Parent pays Employers NI of: £4041.91
Parent pays payroll admin of £200

Cost to parent:
£7944 * 3 = 23,832 plus £28.60 + £4041.91 + £200 = £28,102.51

How exactly the scheme will work is unknown but this is based on what I know so far. With luck the child funds won't have to be of equal amounts, so it may be possible to do:
£8000 + £8000 + £7833 = £23,833 + 20% Government = £28,599.60
Cost to parent:
£23833 plus £0.40 + £4041.91 + £200 = £28,075.31

This scheme won't be operational for another year but is something to keep in mind.

To have a take home salary of £41,500 a parent would need a Gross salary of £58,678.

How does someone afford a nanny? They have a well paid job.