Help - Nanny pay increase? Yes or No? I need your views!

Hi Carmel - I live in Cambridge too and have employed both nannies and au pairs. Agencies will always give you the top end of the range in terms of salary but in my experience I have found better and more committed people by looking on my own (currently have temp nanny found through gumtree - did have to weed out many people but there are good ones out there!). TBH I think what you are offering may be on the low side but it depends very much what kind of person/experience you are looking for. I also think nanny jobs in Cambridge are a lot thinner on the ground than they used to be a few years ago.

Also - I would potentially be interested in sharing a nanny two mornings a week (I have a 3 YO son) - do you want to get in touch? You can email me at amrehak at yahoo dot com if you're interested. thanks and good luck!

Please advise ...I can afford to pay £1400 a month gross for around 40 hours/wk, no house work, no cookin, one three year old and one other after school for an hour. Approx 30 days holiday a year.

Do you think I will find a nanny in Cambridge for this sort of pay or is this unreasonable? I could do a nany share for three mornings a week with a child of a similar age to increase nanny's salary -assuming I can find someone who needs p/t care.
Accordign to agencies it is impossible - so scared havign spoken to someone who advertised on Gumtree...when I asked if she smoked she paused and thhn said she had given up - when I asked how long ago the response was "CAW(?) around a month I suppose...what am I to do!!!

Well I think I'll do that then. It's the fairest way most probably.

I used to work for a teacher and when she got a pay rise, I got one at the same rate. Teachers don't get big pay rises but an extra few pennies all helps I suppose.

Funnily enough, emboldened by all the advice on here and Penth's other thread about recruitment, I have now advertised on Gumtree with an ad based on one Nannynick et al helped me draft a few months ago, and I got some very promising inital responses and no daft ones at all. All are considerably more qualified and experienced than the rather dodgy agency candidates being put forward by the agencies, and all seem to think £300 pw net live out for 50 hours is a fair rate of pay around here. As do I, so that's good.

I had an idea about payrises - how about offering nannies exactly the same percentage pay rise as the employer gets?? This would be easy for me to do as I am a lecturer and it's all public information.

Boffinmum - when I first moved to the Cambs region and rang round some agencies a few were quoting huge £net per hour for nannies - more than I was paying in London. However the potential nannies I contacted directly (through gumtree/nannyjob) and a newer agency quoted much more reasonable rates.
It still seems the case now, I have seen a few jobs on nannyjob in the last few months (am scouting out in case we swap au pair for nanny) at what I would call reasonable rates - but I was told £12 per hour by an agency.

Speaking as a nanny employer, I think if you can afford to pay £500 a week net, and you think your nanny deserves that, then that's great. I can't afford that, so pay my nanny in central London much less - she is a fab nanny, and happy with her pay. I game her a small pay rise last year, but will not be doing so this year - at my firm all pays are being frozen.

BoffinMum - agencies definitely talk up the money! Have you tried advertising the job yourself stating the gross annual salary upfront?

I also live in Central London Little One's Mum, and have a great live-out nanny who has been with us for almost 7 years now!
I have made it a policy to keep paying her top rates because I think she is very very good, and I trust her 100 per cent to do the best for my children. I have a very demanding job and I need the peace of mind that I have the right person in my house looking after my little ones.
She is qualifed and has lots of experience so I have always paid her rates towards the top end of the market average for this kind of role. I like the fact that she gets paid a bit mroe than her nanny friends too - I think this underlines how highly we rate her, and how important we judge this role to be in our family. We have always given her pay rises at every annual review.
I would cut back on everything else before I considered "downsizing" childcare.

For OFSTED you don't necessarily need a DCE - you need any of the qualifications listed on the list here or common core training (easily available as the ICP or distance learning from MNT).

Sorry for the thread hijack OP!

so LITTLEONESMUM wwhat have you decided to do?

at 450 a week she is on good money, but if you said payrise in contract, then techinally you have to give her one - though if she wants £500 thats a huge payrise

I would offer maybe 3/5% so up to £11 a week extra

if she says no,then yes you may have a fab nanny and your child loves her, but she is young and will love another nanny as well

DCE - is the diploma in childcare and education which is a NVQ level 3 and the equivelant to the NNEB - also if you want her to be ofsted registered you really want someone with a DCE.

I did think so, Frannikin. (BTW what is DCE?) Since posting I have looked at websites of a couple of very posh London agencies, and interestingly the country salaries they are quoting there seem a bit lower than expectations around here, for better qualified and/or more experienced people, and I am baffled as to why this would be. It was the same with Norland. Maybe local agencies in East Anglia are real chancers and talk up the rates a lot?

You should be able to either get a DCE/BTEC with a year post-qualifying as a nanny or mother's help or a fairly experienced NVQ3 nursery nurse with no nanny experience for £20k gross! That or the market's improved significantly since I was looking for my second job!

London is an expensive place to live so salaries are higher but also all the nannies gravitate there so supply can be lower in other regions. Swings and roudabouts.

I feel your pain. I am looking for a nanny in Cambridge for a moderately cushy job, and an agency sent me details of a 21-year-old girl the other day (incidentally younger than my eldest child, if that's in any way relevant), who had done a short distance learning course in home childcaring, and who has two years' childcare experience (mainly 3 days a week). She wanted £8 an hour net. I was told she wouldn't accept a penny less. I worked out for 50 hours a week, this grossed up in the region of £30,000, which was top of the pay scale for graduate teachers, and not that far off what I earn as a reasonably senior education lecturer. So I had to email the agency and tell them this was completely out of our league. They seemed surprised.

They then sent me details of someone who was the same age and had done a part-time NVQ Level 2 on the job, who had job-hopped doing temping work in nurseries, and who wanted £7 an hour, grossing up at about £25,000 a year. That's still a lot for us.

I had genuinely thought after chatting to nannies on MN and reading various posts, I would be able to get someone who had studied for a couple of years at college and had a year's experience for our budget of £20,000 gross. But I fear I may be sadly disappointed having read your post.

How did it go?

That sounds ridiculous to me!! Perhaps she is taking advantage of your generous nature a little?! I was amazed when I saw the initial salary of 450 pnds/ week with 10 week holiday, although we don't live in London! This is more than I started on as a junior doctor and believe me I worked 2-3 times as many hours for the wage! It dosen't sound as if the job is taxing as she only looks after one child, finishes early, hardly ever babysits (and gets paid extra anyway) and has twice the normal holiday allowance. If I were you, even if you can afford it, I would have a really good think about this!

You already pay her sooooooooo much, as a childinder for the same hours and also 1 child I get paid £225 a week so she gets double. And I don't charge for my hols, she's already onto a winner!!

I nannied a while ago. Got an annual payrise and one fmaily (I did a share) gave me a bonus as the other family didn't want to pay me as much as the bonus family.

I think this nanny is on to a very good deal - not all through her own doing - and asking for £500 a week is very cheeky.

What was the end result?

She's crazy. 1 child, nice hours, nice holidays, nice pay already - don't go up yet. Say you won't raise now but will if/when DC2 comes along. For 3 year experience she has a damned good deal and I think she's being unrealistic in her expectations.

You can probably get a more experienced nanny for her current salary in the current climate too and she'll find it hard to find another job in London with those conditions (or overseas for that matter).

I agree with simplyme

".... I think she is being a bit of a greedy cow myself!! She sounds to me like she has a very very cushy job!! Short hours for a nanny - a ton of holiday. Ok so she might only choose 2 weeks but I know I wouldn't say no to an extra 8 weeks even if I didn't get to choose them! she is already on a great salary particularly for her experience level ....
you spoil her maybe a bit too much already by not sticking to the contract and making her babysit unpaid .... with a job like you are offering she would be a fool to leave you! .... "

Rising to £550?! Has she connected that net figure with what you would be paying her gross yearly? You would be looking at in the region of £800 per week for childcare, with tax and NI. I have no idea of your personal circumstances but it does seem she feels she can push the envelope with you. Cheeky, with that level of experience and given the duties you describe.

There are loads of lovely nannies out there. In your shoes, I would be calling her bluff.

Dont give in. I had a great nanny, who started with me when my DD was 3 months old. Sole charge, working 6.30 - 5.30

As a live in I paid her £350 a week, but after a year she decided she wanted to live out so she could meet more people. As I was desperate to keep her I agreed and also agreed to her £500 p/w salary increase.

Anyway in Feb, she decided she wanted to stop being a nanny and try another career.
I was gutted as she had been my DD main carer for so long, and I had done everything I could to make her happy and keep her. This wasnt enough for her. But, when I started looking I found the talent and nanny pool greater than when I had originally searched 1.5yrs previously. I found a brilliant replacement within a week.

My new nanny lives in (much better for my husband and I who both work long hours), is amazing with my DD, who now at 22mths says please, thank you and sorry without being prompted. She also never stops working, I literally have to force her to sit down and take a break.

My ex nanny? Well she has realised that unfortunately everything I said about the job market wasnt me scare-mongering, but the truth. She is now in the unfortunate position of having to return to London and find a job as a nanny, at a time when all my friends across all industry sectors are losing jobs, taking pay cuts and certainly in no position to pay top whack for childcare.

So to the OP I say, take a chance and you may find someone better than your current nanny - as amazing as you think she is.

Good Luck.

She's flipping mental. Even the more experienced nannies aren't getting that sometimes! She's been taking you for a ride considering how much time you give her off and the wage and that pay rise is taking the mick!

I have 3/4 years experience with kids and am a live-in and technically earning £4-5 an hour as I study for an NVQ 3 (I have cushty hours too, school aged kids with lots of clubs and things).

So many more experienced nannies would take that role you have her in happily, and, not being funny, but she probably knows that she's got this one in the bag and that's why she's trying to push for £500, do not give it to her! She won't leave because she knows she's got a good deal going already!