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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder if nannies are more a "London" thing?

80 replies

jessica29054 · 04/10/2016 20:53

Nannies are often suggested on here as childcare but I don't even know one person with a nanny for their children and I live in the frozen north :) It's childminder or nursery here.

So I am idly wondering if nannies are more of a London/south east thing?

I wouldn't mind a nanny for DC (9 months) but I really don't think it's a 'thang' in these 'ere parts!

OP posts:

quasibex · 04/10/2016 22:36

Cardiff here and quite a few parents found nannies cheaper than alternative childcare because they have 3 or more children. I found it a bit at first but have to admit it makes sense for them.

gintymarlowe · 04/10/2016 22:37

i live nowhere near London and i have never known anyone with a nanny round my way. mind you, people aren't that well off my side of town. i think they maybe more a middle-middle/upper middle class thing not a lower middle/working class thing so much. apologies if the mentions of class make me sound a bit snobby, i don't mean to be

sparechange · 04/10/2016 22:38

It's circa £90 a day per child for nursery in my bit of SW London. A nanny makes good financial sense. Nanny housekeepers are popular too, especially when you would pay £100 a week for a cleaner

gintymarlowe · 04/10/2016 22:39

having said that though, the irony is that my mum was a Norland Nanny in the 70s. but she worked in- you guessed it- London! where she was living people just didn't have them. and she was middle-upper class

gintymarlowe · 04/10/2016 22:39

by where she was living i meant where she came from originally. and that was nowhere near London!

BackforGood · 04/10/2016 22:55

I don't think I've ever met a nanny, nor anyone who employs a nanny, and I know a lot of people.

As someone said upthread, any me tion of 'Nanny' round here is a reference to a child's grandmother.

Nanny90 · 04/10/2016 22:57

I'm a nanny just outside of Cheshire and both parents do not work!

Teahornet · 04/10/2016 23:13

A friend in Kent used to have a Norland nanny. Admittedly it wasn't an intentional thing, she just advertised and a Norland-trained nanny happened to be at a temporary loose end locally and to want to work in the vicinity for personal reasons. She wore the uniform, complete with hat and gloves, to the interview, was visibly a complete star and an excellent fit, and the only awkward moment was when she asked my friend (who was sitting covered in baby sick and Sudocrem in her little Victorian terrace) whether she would like her to wear the uniform to work.

emmaw1405 · 04/10/2016 23:24

I had 5 children under the age of 4 - my eldest started school and to have the 4 in nursery would have cost £1400 a week. Plus before and after school care for the 4 year old. So much cheaper to have a nanny for us to look after the 5 of them.

My youngest two have just started school and she now does the school run for us three days a week - husband and I work one day at home each. Cheaper than breakfast and after school clubs, the kids are fed before I get home from work and she is able to take them to their after school activities as well.

I'm in London (but from the North!)

vinoandbrie · 04/10/2016 23:30

I'm in the North, and have a nanny. I am away for work this week, as is my husband, and we couldn't manage without her.

Friends at school also have nannies, and nanny has a community of 'nanny friends' whose charges provide my toddler DD's social circle.

In other words, lots of people have them, even in the north, happy to recommend a good nanny agency if useful?

maddiemookins16mum · 04/10/2016 23:52

I nannied for three under 4's once. In their home. Mum, dad, and sister in law. It worked out cheaper than Nursery.

MaryTheCanary · 05/10/2016 02:38

Nanny shares are often cheaper in places where real estate costs are high.

Because basically, the fact that the care is taking place within someone's home while they are out, means that you do not have to pay rent on a property (which of course daycare nursery owners do have to do). So if rents are very high, that can make it work out cheaper. The house or flat is already being paid for.

giraffesCantReachTheirToes · 05/10/2016 02:55

Glasgow nanny here

Original poster

jessica29054 · 05/10/2016 03:22

I'm glad it isn't just me who has yet to come across a nanny!

OP posts:

RattieOfCatan · 05/10/2016 06:45

Nannies are everywhere, we're just hiding

Some areas won't have many at all though. I have just relocated to an area where my career is effectively over because it's a very low income/deprived area, there are jobs here but they are extremely few and far between and most are cash-in-hand which the 17/18yo 'nannies' and those looking to leave nursery work are happy to do and most jobs in the nearest big towns/city are before/after school jobs so not worth it unless you live within 10 minutes of it really!

I was really shocked to discover that childminders charge £5ph in this area, which was the same as in the South East where I just left! So with two children you would be just as better off having a nanny instead of a childminder as the wages aren't great here, but there are very very few experienced or qualified nannies so it's a catch-22. In most places it's cheaper to have a nanny if you have three children too.

Millionprammiles · 05/10/2016 08:50

Probably - but only because crippling mortgages, long commutes, exorbitant nursery costs and not having your mum living round the corner is a 'London' thing.

Bumpsadaisie · 05/10/2016 09:24

Here up north if someone says the kids are with nanny it means they're with grandma!

I don't know ANY nannies and I have a wide group of friends and acquaintances across the whole social spectrum.

But in London all my friends have them. So I think you're right.

Original poster

jessica29054 · 05/10/2016 09:25

my mum died circa 1999 so definitely not round the corner.

People up north do sometimes have problems too, y'know?

OP posts:

Pisssssedofff · 05/10/2016 09:28

I've always had nannies in the north west and midlands but then I had 3 kids

PowerPantsRule · 05/10/2016 09:32

I am on the South Coast, in an affluent area, and we have three nanny agencies in my home town, and lots of nannies.

What is rare to find is a 'trained' nanny, usually they are nursery workers who made the move to private nannying or local girls who started off babysitting and worked their way up. I have never had a 'manny' down here. I am an anomaly as because of our weird working hours we need someone over a weekend - and a weekend nanny is VERY hard to find here. So much so I have had to stop working at the weekend.

Original poster

jessica29054 · 05/10/2016 09:44

You see, I've never seen a nanny agency!

It's not even that I live in a hovel or particularly 'poor' area, which is why this interested me I think.

OP posts:

ErrolTheDragon · 05/10/2016 09:54

I live in Lancashire, I had a nanny for my DD before school age. I knew someone else who did, and her nanny seemed to know a bunch of others.

Its expensive (I would think even moreso now, I'm going back a few years as DD is 17) so of course there will be more people who can afford nannies in more prosperous parts of the country.

HeyNannyNanny · 05/10/2016 09:57

I'm a Nanny from Leicestershire and moved down to London because there was so much more work and obviously the pay is better.
FT jobs outside of London are few and far between, most were awkward PT - weird hours leaving no time for a second job. Or with unreasonable expectations.

I was offered a FT job about 50 mins commute from my old address in Leics, £300npw for 50 hours with 3 kids. So it would have been 60 ish hours with commute. (£20k a year for employer)

I declined and now work for a wonderful couple looking after 1 baby for £550npw (£42k for employer) in West London and cycle 10 mins each way. My rent is higher obviously.
A complete no brained for me really.

Propertyquandry · 05/10/2016 10:31

Are you in quite a rural area, op? Because there were quite a few nanny agencies near us in the NW. But then we were in a very urban area and perhaps it's not just about affluence but geographical demographics too.

UsernameHistory · 05/10/2016 10:39

Not trying to be patronising but it's probably to do with the circles you move in. If you can afford a nanny you're more likely to know people who do.

We have one and most of our friends do.

With 2 children 2 years apart it worked out best for us.

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