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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be stunned at the rates some nannies expect to be paid?

171 replies

headfairy · 07/02/2011 14:45

Ok, I'm putting this here because if I put it in childcare I'll have hundreds of nannies hating me for evermore... However, recently I've had two nannies tell me they want in excess of £15ph net. Gross that up and that's what I earn, a graduate with 20 years experience working in a very high pressured environment with deadlines that have to be met every hour. Both of them have 10 years of nannying experience, but still....

I've had several more who want £12ph net, with less than 5 years nannying experience, and a few more who want £10ph net and yet they have almost no experience, and who've sent me cvs filled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

I'm going to get flamed I know... I've got the hard hat ready.

OP posts:
granted · 07/02/2011 22:36

headfairy,why don't you put your child in nursery (lots open 7.30-6pm where I am) and just ask your poor mum to look after dc for the last hour and a half - give them dinner, bath, read story - not too taxing,and something I would imagine your mum would enjoy and benefit from too.

That's what I would do in your situation.

Or get childminder (unregistered if nec) to cover that hour and a half, if your mum isn't up to it.

My dh's mum used to use students to babysit him and his sister whilst she was doing her PhD - worked fine. Obviously,if not registered,they'll need vetting by you fairly well - but then nannies aren't registered either. Do you have any friends with grown-up children whom you know who you could rely on?

It would simply never occur to me to use a nanny.

porcamiseria- you are wrong in suggesting that the ludicrous rates suggested are the going rates - loads of people - including those in the OP's area - have clearly stated they aren't.

And sadly, you don't 'get what you pay for'. Look at the bankers! High salaries are no guarantee of quality, any more than low salaries are a guarantee of poor quality. The OP clearly works hard at her job, but accepts the financial rewards are not as great as she would like.

Original poster
headfairy · 07/02/2011 22:58

Xenia, you are so right. What someone earns is no reflection of the importance of their worth, the bankers/nurses thing is just one of many examples.

Porcamiseria, i will keep hunting, I'm sure there's someone out there for us! Our lovely last nanny was prepared to work for £8.50 ph and she had 9 years experience.

Granted, she would love to help but sadly she's a pretty much full time carer for her 91 year old mother and she can't always be there for me. As I work over an hour from home (as does dh) if there was an emergency with my grandmother she wouldn't be able to collect my dcs and look after them.

OP posts:
ChippingInSmellyCheeseFreak · 08/02/2011 00:00

Headfairy - if you want your old nanny back you can be as ruthless in wooing her back as you can be - there is nothing wrong with offering her a good deal as long as you are happy to pay it. There's no point in offering something that will piss you off in a while though.

I'd be suprised if this was the only reason she moved on though (only 3 days with you) - because where you are, it's pretty easy to pick up another 2 days work (I lived there till 2 years ago). Was it the commute or anything else as well maybe?

In your area I would say that £10 ph net is a reasonable amount to aim for - you will get someone good for that. If you like one of your applicants tell them that is the rate and they can take it or leave it. It's hard for them to set a rate and of course they will quote highter because if you are prepared to pay it then they win and if you aren't you'll come back with a rate you are happy to pay - it's a negotiating point, nothing more :)

Good Luck!!

Morloth · 08/02/2011 00:18

I guess they are charging what the market will bear. If enough people can't afford it then they will have to lower their rates or be out of a job. Not that much you can do really.

It sucks, I find myself in a position where it just isn't worth it for me to work.

BoffinMum · 08/02/2011 07:49

It doesn't always work like that. I am seeing more nannies calculating their monthly pay like grown ups rather than hourly net (the hourly net thing is stupid for people who are paid by the month, anyway), I see salaries falling slightly in job ads for nannies, and I see a hell of a lot of nannies having to cobble together two or three part time jobs in order to make a living, and being knackered as a result. According to my source, freelance temp nannies are also having to drop their rates and some of them had a pretty tough summer financially, even the top ones. If you find someone sensible who is more interested in the content of the job and working for a single nice family, then you're sorted. They can only earn silly money if people pay it, and a lot of families are refusing to be held to ransom at the moment (rightly so).

CFAW · 08/02/2011 08:02

So your job is more important/worth more than a child care providers is?

This sort of attitude makes me laugh. The most important job in the world is looking after children, be they your own or someone Else's. But nannies are expected to get paid nothing?

onceamai · 08/02/2011 08:08

I live in SW London and I believe the going rate is about 15 ph gross and much less if they live in. Contact Norland direct and get a good college leaver.

Foxinsocks · 08/02/2011 08:12

they aren't charging what the market can bear it's taking the piss

there are plenty of good nannies who don't earn £15ph in central/sw london believe me

SnapFrakkleAndPop · 08/02/2011 08:20

I don't think you would get flamed if you put this in childcare, btw. We're all (nannies included) in the process of telling someone that the payrise her nanny has asked for is ridiculous, way above the market rate and she should get someone else. And that's nowhere near £15ph net and in Central London.

valiumredhead · 08/02/2011 08:21

"I am seeing more nannies calculating their monthly pay like grown ups rather than hourly net..."

boffinmum - don't you see Nannies as grown ups?

valiumredhead · 08/02/2011 08:29

I used to pay my teenage babysitter £8 per hour in SE London, and I know my friends pay their cleaners £10.

Now we have moved out of London, the going rate for a babysitter is £3 per hour. ( we go out a lot now! Grin)

The thing about London IME is that if a you don't want to pay a nanny what she asks for, there will be some one else who will.

I don't think you are BU , if you can't afford to pay £15 per hour, then don't. Offer what you can afford and see what the response is. Hope you find someone soon :)

DoingAnythingBut · 08/02/2011 08:51

Why don't you advertise for a Nanny share? Perhaps there is someone in your position who only works 2 days a week?

Also, I agree with granted perhaps the solution is nursery and then a child minder to pick up and do the last 1.5 hours?

Do Nannies take childcare vouchers? Are you able to get tax relief on the money you pay them?

granted · 08/02/2011 12:02

valiumredhead - conversely to your "The thing about London IME is that if a you don't want to pay a nanny what she asks for, there will be some one else who will." - I'd say that The thing about London is that if you don't want to pay a nanny what she asks for, there will be some one else who will work for what you ask for.

Yes, there are some nannies who think they are worth more than a highly-paid professional; there are also many more reasonable nannies who realise that for relatively unskilled work, they are getting extremely well-paid already. Certainly, if you compare that to the pay levels in nurseries, where the responsibility is just as great, often greater, they are doing v well. I live in outer London, Home Counties like the OP, and local nurseries pay barely more than minimum wage.

Now, to my mind, that is underpaid. But £15/hour net is just ridiculous.

As David Cameron is fond of telling us, we are 'all in it together' - nannies' salaries have to come from somewhere, and that is their employers' taxed wages. Which in the current economy, are going down.

Nannies can't expect to be immune from that.

granted · 08/02/2011 12:03

OP - why don't you post in the jobs section on here? Find a nice MN nanny. :)

BoffinMum · 08/02/2011 12:15

Not the ones who can't understand the difference between gross and net pay, no. I think those ones are very immature.

Laquitar · 08/02/2011 12:54

There is a market for £15nphr nannies so we cant say that it is ridiculous in general.

But in OP's case it is because the job she offers is very straight forward, she sounds very easy going and she doesn't require any special pluses. In my case i could not find a cheaper nanny because of my requirements (i don't pay £15ph btw)

KnittedBreast · 08/02/2011 13:05

im becoming a nanny

Highlander · 08/02/2011 13:10

given how shit I think I am with kids (muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch harder then my profession), I think they are underpaid by about 300%.

sammich · 08/02/2011 19:35

With £15 a hour going rate for nannies i may just have to move to where ever the OP is and find myself one of those cushy jobs lol

I work in a nursery full time and im not on that much and im nvq level 4 qualified, senco qualified makaton tutor

I think im too loyal to move though :)

I know you said no to the nursery idea but as someone else pointed out you could always get a childminder for the last hour and a half or a baby sitter for that last part it may work out cheaper

atswimtwolengths · 08/02/2011 19:39

Hmm I could do with doing this over the long summer holidays - think someone would pay an experienced teacher £15 per hour to look after their kids?

Morloth · 08/02/2011 20:48

Of course they are foxinsocks if no-one can afford them, they will be forced to lower their rates, if someone will pay it then that is what the market will bear.

I don't think 'hmm I wonder what the cheapest I could do this job for' when I am contracting. I find out what the market is and then pitch it as high as I think I will get away with. If I start losing contracts then I will have to lower my rates.

Being a nanny is a job, not doing someone a favour.

Foxinsocks · 09/02/2011 08:04

the market at the moment is not that good for nannies Morloth

I know this as I have one and need to find another!

that price is not what the market can bear, it's chancing your arm! I suspect they will ask a few people for that rate, realise they won't get it then lower it, just as you suggest. But it isn't (£15ph net) the price the market can bear as the market isn't that good.

I never said it was doing someone a favour ffs.

Mtorun · 09/02/2011 14:10

Just wanted to add working in a nursery with other staff is different then working on your own. Responsibility is only on you. At nursery you always have back up. If you are sick, you call sick and there will be always another staff to cover you. All my nannying life I only had to call once and I was dreading. But luckly my bosses were/ are great. And I know few families who employed nannies before and then ex nursery workers. And all of them werent %100 happy as they were with their nanny. Nannies knows how to work on their own without any help.

It's an employers market. If you can efford you can pay if not you need to find other solutions. That is all you can do. By the way, as a nanny I do think £15phn is too much.

Blondeshavemorefun · 09/02/2011 14:31

headfairy we would never flame you Wink

it is a lot of money they are asking and tbh imho they are asking for too much

if they think they can get that salary then tell them, sorry, cant afford you and good luck

if they are that professional, they would be talking gross Grin

chickadee87 · 10/02/2011 08:32

PLEASE dont tar every nanny with the same brush! I am a full time nanny doing a split week share and i earn in the bracket of 20K-25K per annum, and i ALWAYS ask for a gross hourly rate. I would NEVER expect to be paid 40K nor would i want to cos id just hate giving half of it to the taxman. I am fully qualified and have 3.5years exp sole charge nanny care. Perhaps i earn a bit higher in relation to my experience but thats because i work for 3 families (im in north london)

I am upset that many of you are blackening the name of good, hard working nannies like myself - we need to earn a living too and why shouldnt we be paid well? If you dont want to pay £15phn then look for someone else!

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