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?!!!

Rosered1235 - I do have compassion for hardworking people, hence the reason why I decided to become ofsted registered as I knew it would help a lot of people with the costs.

I am also a hardworking person, and just like everyone else I have bills to pay myself and need to earn a decent wage. Whilst I appreciate people don’t want to spend their entire wage on a nanny, they should not advertise for one if they can’t afford it and go for a less cheaper option such as a nursery or child minder.

Can I just say, I do appreciate that some parents may be shocked to hear the prices but I would never dream of speaking to people the way some parents have spoken to me and belittled me hence my frustration. I have no problem with parents trying to negotiate the price (human nature I guess!) but it doesn’t mean I have to agree to it and neither does it mean that they should make comments and be rude just because they haven’t got their own way.

Are you a child minder or nanny sleepyandtired21? I’m guessing a nanny from your posts but maybe I’m being thick!

Twenty years ago I earned more than that as a nanny in Leeds.

I can’t believe people query your rates! I wanted a nanny but got let down quite badly by one. For twins it was going to work out cheaper than nursery! And logistically would have been easier. I was gutted when it didn’t work out but have gone for a nursery as didn’t want to get let down again

Thank you ellesbellesxxx! Sorry to hear you were let down, that’s a real shame! Yes I always come across families with multiple children looking for nannies instead of nurseries as it’s cheaper. Hopefully you might find a good nanny in the future!

£10 per hour for just looking after one family's children? That sounds incredibly cheap what on earth were they expecting to pay?

Unfortunately I don't think childcare gets enough respect from some people as a career. They think they can pay the same to a professional caring for your children's welfare and development all day as they would for a teenager sitting in your living room while the kids sleep upstairs.

Rosered1235

TO be fair OP is showing compassion but expecting a professional to work for under £10 an hour and questioning what is a very decent rate doesn't show much compassion to OP. OP is hardworking too and the parents choose to go back to work (presumably so they can keep their careers) OP shouldn't be expected to work for pittance to enable the choices of strangers.

I’m a nanny, for me it isn’t about the money at all because I love thenwork so much but I have to be able to live!

Some people can be incredibly rude about the cost of childcare. We run a childcare business (not nannying but DH has also been a CM so we've seen a lot of it!) and we had one charmer who called our (tiny) office recently, started trying to haggle very aggressively and offensively, then claimed he'd done his research and we were the most expensive in the whole city. No twatface, we most certainly are not. But feel free to go to one of these massively cheaper places as we have no interest in dealing with you.

Wish you were in London!

A nanny can work out to be much much cheaper than a childminder or nursery/school club combo if you have 3+ kids.

You would also be entitled to up to 70% of £300 a week or 85% of £300.

That is the attraction of a registered nanny. It’s really the only reason why one would register.

Those who say how cheap this is, need to remember that the cost of things like this are cheaper up north.

Nanny pay where I am cam be from min wage up to aroind £10ph. £10ph is the most expensive I have seen (small town in NW England).

Obviously the further south you go the higher the rate of pay is. So while you may think it's cheap, it isn't for this area.

OP, I’m not saying that you should reduce your rates. You’re worth what someone is willing to pay and if you can find clients then carry on. I’m just saying that the people who are upset by your rates are probably unable to pay them but still want good quality child care. Just ignore them and carry on but try to remember times are hard for a lot of people and yes maybe it’s worth it for a parent to keep their career going but think how hard it must be to sacrifice precious time with your child to slog all day in a job that might eventually pay off (let’s face it there are no guarantees) but right now pays nothing because child care is so expensive it takes all you earn. These people are going to get upset by the cost of childcare which is not sufficiently funded by the state as it is in other countries.

I can completely understand that people find childcare expensive. But some people are really offensive about it - it's one thing to think "jeez that's most of my wage!" or whatever but quite another to make rude comments to carers, demanding they justify their rates with personal comments and so on. I think it's the latter category which op has had her fill of.

It works both ways.

Op your rate does sound very reasonable, however a lot of nannies have unrealistic salary expectations. I had a potential nanny agree a rate with me, then later on, when I thought I had childcare sorted, come back and say she wanted £20 an hour. This was when she would be bringing her own child to work, and had no previous formal nannying experience, not Ofsted registration.

Not surprisingly, I declined to employ at this point, and she had not found anyone willing to pay these rates. I did try to gently explain that as a nanny with own child, she should expect a reduced rate of pay.

I think people forget that “childcare costs” in the case of a nanny is a wage basically. So they think “omg that’s ridiculous that’s almost my whole wage” forgetting that, obviously, childcare costs are almost a wage because they are paying a wage.

I agree that people shouldn’t make nasty comments. I just think that some people are probably frustrated and desperate.

Obviously the further south you go the higher the rate of pay is. So while you may think it's cheap, it isn't for this area.

I'm in Scotland and don't think £10 ph is expensive for a nanny.

£10 an hour isn’t that cheap because it’s usually the net figure ie what the nanny gets.

Then there’s tax, NI plus other costs.

We paid roughly £11 gross and £9 net. Worked out roughly £1800 a month for 4 days a week. (My sums are very high level). Nanny got roughly £1400 after tax etc.

Nannies are expensive and quite right to. I think childcare should be more subsidised by government as it’s vital to society and the economy.

Parents want reliable childcare, good quality, at an affordable cost. Childcarers want to be paid a reasonable amount based on the work they do. It has been an issue in this country for many decades in my view.

Nanny salaries vary by location and by parents ability to pay. Where I am in West Surrey my employers range in pay levels from £11.50-£14 gross per hour. Other factors also affect the salary such as number of hours in a day - a nanny working a 12 hour day may accept a lower hourly rate than a nanny working a 6 hour day, as the total income is higher. Should childcare be costed by the hour or are day rates more appropriate?

Confusion about what a nanny is vs a childminder is possibly part of the problem, especially with nanny jobs now often not being 50+ hours per week but instead being a mixture of several part time jobs.

I should add - our nanny had a child so the rates were lower than the norm. The costs took up well over half of my salary. That’s before we even got to activities etc especially in the holidays.

Kaytee do you employ a nanny? Are you in the high cost areas? Certainly where I am, £10 is the upper end of the scale. Go in to central Manchester and it would be more like £12ph.

Go to Chester about 8 years ago it was around £10 for a newish nanny to around £15 per hour for a very experienced one.

So her rates are cheap unless you live in a very very cheap area were nannies don't command much higher then minimum wage.

@ThisMustBeMyDream no but my friend is a nanny.