AIBU?
AIBU to ask how much you pay your nanny?
EastDulwichWife · 10/07/2017 16:56
DH and I are struggling to work out how we can work around nursery hours, because I'll be going back 4 days per week and have an awful commute that means I'm out of the house for 10 hours a day.
That means I can't do nursery drop off and pick up, and neither can DH because he works odd hours in a different City.
That leaves full time nursery plus an au pair to do drop off and pick up, or a full time nanny. The latter feels expensive, but we live in London so, frankly, so is nursery. I'm wondering if a full time live in nanny would be a better option?
Does anyone have a live in nanny in London whose salary you're willing to share? We have enough space to house someone.
TIA
EastDulwichWife · 10/07/2017 17:39
Thanks for your replies. We wouldn't need evenings / weekends so it's only be 4 days (albeit long ones!) each week.
Will definitely look into a share but was totally unaware of cost. Haven't found it very easy to get a good guide to salaries online
£300-£500 feels okay, as I assume we'd be at the cheaper end of the scale given the reduced days (e.g. 3 days off per week).
K1092902 · 10/07/2017 18:53
Manchester here so don't know if I'm going to be much help! We pay our Nanny £11ph gross (i.e. before tax etc). She works 25 hours a week but days vary- i.e. one week she might work 2 long days and half a day and other weeks we need her for 1/2 A day 5 days a week. Sometimes she will work overtime and we pay her £12ph for that. Weekends £13ph but very rare.
Babysitting here is rare but if we do we pay her normal rate until 10pm and £12ph for any hours over that. She has done the odd weekend looking after DD if we have gone away somewhere and been paid £14ph.
She has 6 weeks leave a year- we choose 3 and she chooses 3. Also has use of a car which cost an extra £200 a year to insure her (be careful about hiring someone young and inexperienced at driving as the insurance may be costly!). We give her a budget of £200 A month for activities and petrol but rarely all of it is used. We give her £500 at Christmas and on her birthday as a bonus.
She has travelled with us as well- we paid for an economy ticket (she could of upgraded with us if wanted but we asked her to make up the difference) and had her own room in the apartment we rented which we paid for. She paid for her own tickets when we went to attractions unless she was going with DD on her own.
We also spend about £10 A week on food for her while she is on duty.
Pinky333777 · 10/07/2017 20:03
That's true about the extra costs.
My families pay my national insurance and tax, employers national insurance, they also pay my yearly OFSTED registration fee and for a first aid course every three years, and will soon need to contribute to a pension scheme.
I get approx £8.50ph live out in the midlands and work 45hrs p/w.
BrassicaBabe · 10/07/2017 21:51
We've had a nanny for 5 years. I run my own payroll including the mandatory pension scheme now. It's not difficult. Don't let it put you off. Don't get drawn into the gross/net talk. Decide a good rate and pay that the same as any other employer. If I asked my employer to pay my tax he'd laugh until he fell off his chair.
EastDulwichWife · 11/07/2017 13:52
This is so helpful! @Brassica you're right - the net / gross business was beginning to confuse me.
@KT Thanks for the tip on insurance costs. I hadn't factored in driving at all so that's really helpful.
Our preferred nursery, for 4 days care each week works out at £1050pcm. Which, considering the additional au pair costs for drop off pick up is likely to work out considerably more than a live in nanny. A couple of you seem to have really good experiences with long term nannies (coming on holiday, five years service etc), which I love the sound of. Not easy to find, I bet, but worth the search.
Thanks all, I really appreciate your help.
Allthebestnamesareused · 11/07/2017 14:27
What is wrong with a childminder?
I split my early childcare between 2 days at a nursery and 3 at a childminder as this allowed me to do longer hours on the day he was with childminder.
It also meant that when he was old enough to go to school I already had a childminder to do before and after school care.
Also my childminder was so fab that even when he had chicken pox she had him because her older child had had them and she didn't mind her younger one getting them before she was school age.
If you get the right childminder it is a really good option. Mine also arranged cover when she was on holiday.
EastDulwichWife · 12/07/2017 10:40
There's nothing wrong with a childminder - it just hadn't occurred to me that they'd do full day care. I tend to think of a childminder as providing wrap around care only rather than the whole day. I'll look into that too.
Thanks! There are far more affordable options that I had realised...
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