Nanny/parents

[Lucy93mac]

Wondering if any other child care providers or professionals are treated this way?

I’m a registered nanny with many years of experience in a variety of settings, DBS checked, first aid trained, insured to work in people’s homes and carry children in my car. I pay a lot of money to have these checks and qualifications each year. I like to think I provide an excellent child care service and I thoroughly enjoy my job. I charge £10 an hour for my services.

I frequently come across parents who not only want to pay peanuts for child care but actually have the cheek to make comments about my rates.

AIBU to think this is extremely rude?! I always see threads about cleaners who charge to much etc. Fair enough if people don’t want to pay these rates but why do they feel the need to put people down and question how much they charge?

I recently had a lady contact me and brazenly say on the phone “why do you charge so much I don’t understand”. If you can’t afford a nanny or simply don’t want to pay then don’t have one!

Hmmm sorry just needed to vent, when did people become so rude?!!!

£10 an hour sounds cheap to me.

People are typically unprepared for how much childcare costs. Some people working full time have to give over their entire salaries to pay for childcare but it’s worth it to keep their careers going until their children go to school.
They are inexperienced and don’t know the rates, they aren’t being rude, some of them are probably stunned.

£10 is ridiculously cheap for a nanny.

YANBU
People want top class childcare for rock bottom prices.

I do think it's a bit rude. Surely you find out how much childcare costs, approximately, before having a child? Where I am cleaners charge £10-£13 per hour. You'd think childcare would be more really.

Thank you for your replies. I do appreciate that some parents may be shocked at the prices, but surely they could do some research on nannies and how much they cost before approaching one.

Also, a lot of parents who use my services are eligible for help towards the costs, which if I’m right is around 70%. I can’t understand how they can still complain about the costs when most of it is paid for.

£10 an hour is insanely cheap. Here (outside London) a gardener costs £20 an hour.

@lucy93mac how do they get help for up to 70%?

I’m based in Leeds by the way! Forgot to mention that part....

bloody if the nanny is registered then tax credits childcare element

I’m registered with ofsted, so one of the benefits for parents is that they can claim via tax credits towards the costs which I think is around 70%-75%

DH's company charges £10/hour for domestic cleaning! I think your prices are insanely inexpensive considering the skills you have and any customers making the aforementioned comments are CFs

I think, if you work for multiple families on a per hour basis, people might think you're a childminder.

Childminders wouldn't charge £10 per child per hour, but usually would mind several unrelated children at once for £4 or £5 per child per hour.

That's probably why people are wondering whether £10 per hour is correct.

So are you a nanny (working for one family at a time) or a childminder looking after several people in your own home?

To clarify I’m a nanny working in people’s homes, sometimes 1 family sometimes more. I have a few babysitting families who I work for occasionally on an ad-hoc basis as well.

OP can you please pm me. I am looking for childcare and we are near you. Thank you

They sound rude and ignorant. I researched childcare costs before getting pregnant, they could have too.

There isn’t a lot of full time positions available where I’m based so most of the time I will work for one family 2 days a week and another 2-3 days a week to make it up to full time hours.

£10 per hour is not a lot for a nanny service which is what you're providing.

I paid a nursery worker £10 per hour to babysit my son & nephew who were both in bed at the time.

I paid my cleaner £10 per hour.

I know this might sound very classist / ignorant but I'm surprised that people eligible to claim tax credits are enquiring about a nanny service. We are a high income family and I wouldn't have thought we could afford a nanny.

£10 per hour sounds a bargain for a self employed nanny, which certainly sounds like what you are.

I do think you're getting the comments because people are mixing you up with a childminder, who might well earn £15 per hour before expenses if fully booked, but the per hour charge would be per child, so would be half what you charge or less.

Jesus - I’d bit your hand off for that!!

I agree £10 is cheap. I pay my Nanny £12.50 an hour and would expect to pay more for as hoc nannying.

Some people are just cheeky and aren’t prepared to pay properly for anything (they are the ones who would want to pay cash in hand etc).

The problem comparing to cleaners is they come in for a couple of hours - so people don’t mind paying £50 per week - full time childcare can be £400 a week with pension and NI on top.

Just playing devils advocate, childcare comes out of tax income (yes there is some help for some, but most people don’t get 70%).

We live in a town in the Thames Valley. Nearly half of people here commute to London to work. We live here because we couldn’t afford housing in london. We need a Nanny because if you do a 9-5 job (like my husband) in a London you still need childcare 7-7. I’m in a job where I have to travel so I’m no help on pick ups!

Our Nanny’s salary takes up the first 65k of earned income - it’s more then our mortgage. By the time we have paid the Nanny and my husband’s commute he could stay at home and we would be no worse off, but we hold on knowing he will get promoted etc., and he is hoping to move more local so kids can just do before and after school care (which unforgivably will mean our Nanny is made redundant).

I think a lot of people are in between a rock and a hard place. They are “high earners” say 75k, but when they do all the sums our shocked their salary would be wiped out with a Nanny’s salary and commute costs.

Not saying you should accept less. Just highlighting we do have a major problem in this country (especially in SE with costs of housing, which means a lot of people have long commutes, so need Nanny’s, but then have to pay out of taxed income).

We’ve always got our Nanny through an agency who wouldn’t post a job without knowing a fair rate will be paid - if you are going through an agency make sure you “report” families who are not adhering to what was agreed.

Yes I definitely think parents confuse child minders and nannies all the time, hence why I specify in my adverts and messages that I’m a nanny and I work in people’s homes and not my own. A lot of parents advertise for a nanny but still expect to pay child minders prices. I recently had a lady contact me regarding child care on a Sunday and when I said my prices she replied stating that she was hoping to pay child minder rates. I did send her a nice messaging saying that she’d be very lucky to find a child minder who works on a Sunday......

Blueskies I am pretty sure nannies are not self employed. £10nph is still cheap, but it's employer's responsibility to pay nanny's taxes.

Thank you for all your replies, it definitely has reassured me that I was not being unreasonable.