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Paid childcare

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Original poster

Urgent! How much would you pay your nanny to look after your kids for a whole weekend (incl nights)???

84 replies

Avocadoes · 30/05/2010 20:58

Just back from a weekend away. Our nanny looked after our girls for two nights and two days. She had previously said she would charge the hourly rate for this service. I actually thought it was pretty steep to charge £10 per he (her normal rate) for hours age was asleep but assumed it was normal so said ok. So 55 hours away this weekend amounted to £550! I thought she had donw pretty well out of that and gave her the huge wad of cash only for her to say it's normal to give a nanny 1.5x pay on Sundays! So she wants another £80.

I know we should have discussed exact details before but we didn't. Am I being taken for a ride or is it normal to pay £630 for a weekend of childcare?

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Original poster
Avocadoes · 30/05/2010 21:43

Our kids both sleep 12 hour nights so there was no interuption to her sleep. I bought her M&S ready meals for every dinner and bought her fav cereal for breakfast. I gave her £40 kitty and our annual family passes to Kew Gardens and the London Wetlands Centre so they could have free days out (which they did).

OP posts:
nannynick · 30/05/2010 21:40

What does the contract say about overtime? Worse case situation I feel is that ALL the hours are done at the overtime rate.
That may be MORE than she is wanting... so calculate it out and see if it's better agreeing to her request, or better to go with terms of the contract.

Missus84 · 30/05/2010 21:34

You should definitely have discussed money beforehand. When I was a nanny I had an overnight rate in my contract of £30 - so normal hourly wage for waking hours plus £30 for the overnights (if the children sleep through of course).

If she wanted time and a half for the Sunday, that should definitely have been discussed beforehand! I would say no to that.

nannynick · 30/05/2010 21:33

I feel that around £150 per 24-hour period would not be unreasonable.

You are talking 55 hours, so I'd say £400 would be reasonable as a total.

However this is your nanny, so you need to look at the contract you have. It may say something about Overtime rate for example. It would also state a rate for normal daytime care.

So if you took the normal working day, add on say 4 hours of overtime, then add on a set rate for overnight.

I feel £630 is rather steep for 55 hours, unless doing overnight sleep training but I guess your nanny was not doing that given they were working the day as well as the night.

nbee84 · 30/05/2010 21:31

It is not the norm to charge your usual hourly rate for every hour over the weekend - most have a sleepover fee, unless it was a young baby that would be up every 2-3 hours through the night for a feed.

I know a very experienced nanny that proxy parents and charges quite high rates - her rates are £240 per 24 hours, so that still equates to less than your nanny is trying to charge you.

Original poster
Avocadoes · 30/05/2010 21:25

Thanks everyone. Sorry for the many typos in the OP, I was typing quickly on my phone while nanny was getting ready to leave. I ended up telling her we would discuss it all on Tues morning when she comes to work.

I really wish she hadn't done this. She is great with the kids but now I feel I am being wripped off. Instead of thinking about my lovely weekend away I am obsessing about this. We give her a great deal all in all and she knows we aren't super rich.

I just feel sad now and I am dreading talking to her about money on Tuesday.

OP posts:
Dimi · 30/05/2010 21:09

That is ridiculous! I am a mom and a nanny and have been nannying for 10 years, mainly in Notting Hill where nanny salaries are high. I often work weekends and the going rate is your normal wage per hour during the day and then I charge £30 for a sleep over....the working day hours would be 7am-7pm or when baby goes to bed...
and the right thing to do would be to make sure there was plenty of food for nanny and baby and kitty money to go out and do activities....hope that helps.

Alouiseg · 30/05/2010 21:07

OMG! A friends Nanny charges £100 for an overnight stay which is from 6 pm till 9am but that's the only comparison I can think of.

I think she's being cheeky if she didn't mention the enhanced Sunday rate beforehand.

compo · 30/05/2010 21:01

no experience whatsoever but oh my god!