To ask if you employ a FT nanny/housekeeper, what is your household income?

[UncleBunclesHouse]

I feel that we need this service but it just seems like something I’ve only thought was for the very wealthy, not ‘normal’ working people. I don’t know if I’m being unrealistic or out of my league to recruit for this position.

Not necessary for the answer but so as not to drip feed, I earn 6 figures and husband income is less clear as self employed. For various reasons we would need the nanny/housekeeper to be self employed also and invoice us their bill. I’d want a really good one who is doing it as a career and can be very proactive in running the home and engaging with the children to further their development, plus flexible as our jobs can sometimes mean unpredictable hours.

You can’t have a nanny/housekeeper be self employed, they would be employed either by you or by a payroll company. They wouldn’t pass the criteria for being self employed: www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

Can’t have a self employed nanny if you’re their sole employer

My friends daughter is a Norland nanny. She lives in but only works Monday to Friday . She earns £35,000 and they provide a car for which they pay all running costs including insurance and fuel . It is for her exclusive use, so she uses it for weekends, holidays etc. She doesn’t do any housekeeping but does prepare some of the children’s meals and do their laundry. Afraid I’ve no idea what her employer’s income is.

Surely you could have a look at agency adverts? They usually list a ph salary.

The only relevant thing is whether you can afford it on your joint salaries - we may have the same household income but could have vast differences in outgoings making a housekeeper far more or less affordable for you! Better off to think in terms of whether you will remain comfortable after the 40k or whatever it will cost you pa (haven’t had full-time housekeeper in the U.K. so I’m not sure about how much you have to pay in tax, NI etc, or if there are restrictions on self-employment if you are the sole employer as pp mentioned).

I can say however that I have never found anyone who is capable of both nannying and doing housekeeping well at the same time. The same went for myself when I was looking after the kids and the house! They are 2 different jobs and often whoever you find will be better at one, at the cost of the other; there are only so many hours in a day and everyone has different strengths and interests. But fingers crossed that you get lucky!

Suggesting your six figure salary is normal is a kick in the teeth for the many people who earn substantially less.

No one can comment on whether it’s affordable without knowing about your other expenses/commitments.

I would say they are 2 different roles you are looking for - a separate nanny and housekeeper. Nannies will not usually do household work unless it’s related to the children. They cannot be self employed so you will need to pay the associated costs of being an employer including holiday pay, pension, maternity etc. When I employed a nanny full time Mon-Fri, my income was over 200k but you need to look at all your other household outgoings.

Looking at the other posts, it seems your nanny couldn’t be self employed. Why is it you say this must be the case?

How old are your children? Unless they are both older and at school, a nanny won’t be able to do much in the way of housekeeping.

You earn six figures, you think it's normal and you think you can just 'choose' to have a 'self employed' nanny.... Seriously? You don't opt out of the law unfortunately even if you earn six figures (does it start with a few zeros?).
Fwiw our combined net monthly income is about £7500. Our nanny will cost us about 1750 per month (adding all the employment cost but then taking advantage of the tax free childcare thing - we have 4 kids so can max out on that). She will be on about 12.5ph for 37hours a week.

We've had nannies in the past when our children were small.

The salary you pay depends on your location, whether the nanny is live in or out, availability, desirability of your job, economy etc.

As others have rightly said, the role can't be self employed anyway, but certainly in particular as it's full time, so you will need to employ them, do tax and NI, pension etc,

I would say you are looking at a minimum of £30,000k upwards for a 10 hour day 5 days a week.

You also need to factor in holidays, potential sick leave, maternity leave, etc.

It's not a route to go down if your budget is super tight.

How old are DC? Are they in prep school already? I always imagine the money would be better spent paying school fees and sending them to a school where they finish at 5.30 or 6pm after activities and get a school bus home. Depends on ages though. Is that an option?

No, not self-employed- YOU need to employ them and pay pension/tax/holiday etc.

I won’t work as a housekeeper/nanny (in my experience it can be a 2for the price of 1 situation and employers run you ragged- I’m a nanny and will cook and launder for the children only- and my salary is £42,000 with any overtime paid per hour on top. My employer pays national insurance etc through the payroll company.

Why would you need the position to be self-employed?

🙄🙄🙄

My FT nanny costs me about 30k per year inclusive of tax NI and pension. She sn’t a housekeeper though. She does children’s cooking, laundry and also clears up after them, will occasionally deep clean their bedrooms. Will change their beds regularly. She will empty dishwasher and put it on etc if timings works out. But anything outside of the children’s domain she doesn’t do (nor do i ask her to do).

Well I say full time she does 28 hours a week over 4 days + non compulsory over time when asked (of which since Covid there hasn’t been much due to lack of work travel) .

Please could you explain why you've put "very wealthy, not ‘normal’ working people" and "I earn 6 figures and husband income is less clear as self employed." in the same sentence as if you're classing yourself as not wealthy?

They can’t be self-employed unless they work for 3 or more families, and have a degree of flexibility over their hours

We have a nanny housekeeper who does 8-6 four days a week and a half day on Fridays

We pay her £12/hr net, which gives us a tax and NI bill of around £2k per quarter on top of what we pay her directly (we use nanny PAYE as the payroll company and they work out the tax bill etc for us, and send payslips)

All in, it’s around £3k a month to have her

But, nurseries around here are £2k+ a month, plus we previously used doggy daycare which was £550 a month, plus a cleaner at £250 a month

So being able to combine these with one person was a financial and practical no-brainer

It was also a massive peace of mind to know that we didn’t have to live in fear of a ‘DC are ill, can you collect them from nursery and they can’t come back for 3 days’ call

We had a full time nanny till last year. 35 k including pension and ni. There were also other costs mileage and insurance. As others say if they are only working for you they can’t be self employed.

Also very much depends where you live.
Nannies near me are very happy with 12quids per hour. I'm in the north west. London/South won't be the same.

When I had dd we hired a Nanny for 3 days a week 11am-8pm. She was more a mothers helper because I was home too (not working) and we shared looking after the older toddlers/kids and DD. She wasn't a housekeeper and never cooked or cleaned (apart from tidy the kids toys if she'd had them out). We had to pay an agency and a payroll company and it cost us just under £3k per month. H earned 6 figures (just) and it was crippling with our mortgage and £500 per month fares.

Not many nannies want nanny/housekeeper roles but you might be lucky.

As others have said they will be an employee, with all that entails - NI, tax, pension, expenses, insurance, etc.

I presumed OP means wealth in the class of footballers and royals etc vs high earning working professionals.

If the children are school age why on earth can a nanny only cook and launder for them? I appreciate people are career nannies and don't want to be cleaners. But on a £42k salary you should be able to manage washing, some xleaning, cooking for the whole family. Like SAHMs do who don't have nannies.

I have always employed nannies and yes they focus on the children but now the kids are older they cook an evening meal for us all and hang out washing if it's there. I wouldn't expect them to arrange dinner parties or get my car MOTd but if I expressly employed someone as nanny housekeeper, I would expect a bit of light cleaning.

And also, the ‘competition’ to employ good nanny housekeepers is tough
They interview you as much as you interview them

Any hint that you’re going to run them ragged or take the piss with hours, and they’ll have other families to choose from
They know their worth, rightfully

It’s usual to pay a Christmas bonus (we give 2 weeks pay) but you can do that in cash rather than running it through the payroll

A household where there are 2 salaries, one of which is 6 figures and the other - although "unclear" is clearly not minimum wage - is hardly a "normal" working family.

I earn £40K so less than half of what you earn but still understand that I earn well over the average wage and I appreciate how well off I am.

I find the disclaimer in the op infuriating.