I'm a nanny with my own baby - what should I charge?

[Vizella]

Hi all,

I am a single mother of a 1.5 year old DS whom I've committed to looking after until he's 3 - I believe in prioritising his needs above my career, etc etc. I live with my parents at the moment, that's how I can afford it.

However, I am eating into my savings and would like to make some income as an after-school nanny so that I don't deplete all of my savings. Otherwise, I might have to go back to work and I don't want to do that.

My question is, would parents be okay with me looking after their children while I bring my DS along - he is well-behaved and bright, not the type to run around tearing things down - and also, should I charge slightly less or the same hourly rate?

So, in London, nannies charge about £15 net per hour, should I charge £10-12 per hour?

Thanks for your advice (and sorry if any of this offends some of you - no idea how lol, but you never know).

I thought the distinction was childminders have children at their own house, whereas nannies have them at the children's house.

We had a full time nanny when DC were little, and as they were here for the day it was expected that a few hours were low key activities (and she could have looked after a toddle during these). However, if I now were to hire a nanny only for 3:30-6:30 then I would expect these hours to be full-on: back from school, homework, school projects, showers, cooking and serving dinner and I would expect her to tidy as she goes. Honestly, that wouldn’t leave time to look after a baby or even toddler, especially as it would be a time of the day when they often start being fussy. Maybe a family with only one child and you would need to offer a good discount, say £10/h instead of £15.

Why would someone pay you to babysit your own child ? It’s a waste of their money. They are paying you for exclusive care ie your full attention from you on their child. They’re not running a charity.

I wouldn’t want a nanny who has their own child with them. They are likely to put their own child first and I’d be paying for the focus to be on my child.

OP you wouldn't be "charging" anything, nannies are employed. £11.74 is the minimum you could be paid.
Have a look at the afterschool nanny jobs on nannyjob and childcare.co.uk and apply for some.

If your mum doesn't mind looking after your son a couple of times a week, you could bear that in mind if there are a couple of difficult days, when it would be easier if a smaller child wasn't there.

I know a few people who have had a NWOC and it's worked. It didn't for us - too many children!

My dc’s friend at primary had this set up with a nanny any it worked well. Nanny and her baby picked dc up from school, took her to activities and gave her dinner/supervised homework. She was a very well behaved only girl so it was an easy job. She’d also be happy to take mine occasionally too as an extra for cash.

The Op @Vizella has outlined her childcare experience, but not mentioned her qualifications i.e. what level of childcare she has, pediatric first aid and a dbs

In practice was does £10-12 net work out as at a gross rate for you? I think people are reading the £10 and thinking ‘bargain’ but that probably isn’t the case one you add in pension, tax and not sure what the deal with student loan is.

i don’t think it’s viable if you’re only going to want to do 5.30/6- there has to be a good offer over and above wrap-around for the price difference and the added risks of having a toddler around. If you can go to 7 or 8 then I think there would be people who would go for it due to how hard it is to get care beyond 6.

You should be looking after someone else’s child in your home.
No one wants to be “supporting” your child with use of house, toys, food and what a double buggy required ?

Maybe u get lucky at 1/2 price, it’s a nanny share , right?

If you’re looking after your own child too, at best I would expect to split the fee with you 50/50. So if the going rate is £15/hr, I wouldn’t expect to pay more than £7.50. And I’d have concerns over that because babies require more concessions so it would not be a great situation for a school age child. Would be much keener on a nanny-share with someone with a similar aged child doing similar activities.

Other thing to think about is whether you’d be happy to only take annual leave during school holiday periods? And What you’d do if your child/their children were sick and whether you’d be happy/able to take a primary aged kid swimming for example with your 1yo in tow.

it obviously can be a model that works as other posters have said they know people doing it but is going to depend on your competition from wrap-around as not everyone would be keen.

I think this is a great option for you and where I am in London very very common for Nannys to bring own child to school pick up and then back to their charge’s house. Their rate is usually 20-40% less than the going rate (going rate for after school nanny here is c. £20 p/h gross) A lot of parents are willing to take the disadvantages of having the nanny’s child in the mix to save a bit of money. Advertise at local private prep schools and you might find some only child families really keen for some help.

So if you went back to full time nannying your mum would look after your dc? That's what you've alluded to in a previous comment

So why not ask your mum to look after your dc for the 3 hours you are doing after school care?

Why don't you ring a couple of nanny agencies and explain what you are looking for in terms of after-school and having your own child with you. They will be able to advise on rates of pay. Some parents wouldn't like that arrangement, some would. Have you thought of part time nursery work? I'm sure you would be able to take your child with you. Nurseries are struggling for staff and are often very accommodating to staff children. Lots of part time work available so you could do afternoons or a couple of afternoons. I would really think about flexing your experience. Do you have a childcare qualification? If so have you thought about doing some childcare assessing. You need an A1 qual for that but could be something to explore.

Sorry NRTFT

I personally would not hire a nanny who has such a young child with them.
I would perhaps hire a babysitter - but then I’d be paying a lot less and using them less.

Have you thought about becoming a childminder instead?

Parents know that there will be other children in the home and I personally liked this.

Failing that, you could look for a job in a nursery.
My friend did this and put her baby in the same nursery.
She worked in a different room (I think this is recommended) but it worked really well for her.

Childminders here's have about ten kids each with at least a few preschool. What's all the fuss about

I hired nannies over many years while I was self-employed working and raising my kids. It's a job where I would expect full attention so I wouldn't have employed a nanny who came with their own child in the mix.

However, child-minding might work well for you.

No, the poster can’t prioritise her own child. But it could go the other way. In an effort to prove she is not favouring her child, she may end up showing the other children more attention and thus depriving her own child. It’s a difficult one!

I understand your reasoning, OP. You don’t want to put your child in childcare while you do the childcare for someone else’s child! Makes total sense to me.

I think it sounds like you’ll get work no problem.

I had a nanny when my dc were younger and I wouldn't have been happy with her bringing her own child to my home (in anything other than an emergency situation.) You pay a premium for a nanny and part of that is having all of their attention and focus on your own child/ children.
Having said that, my friend had a nanny who came to her home and looked after my friend's DS and her sister's son (so two little boys, who were cousins.) They shared the cost which made this arrangement work for them. Perhaps if you were willing to deeply discount your services then you may find some people who would be interested.
However most people who want a nanny want the singular attention of that nanny and are willing to pay for that. They would also expect them to have some manner of qualification, be registered at ofsted, fully insured and come with disclosure checks.
Another option would be to host children at your home (would your parents allow that? ) That would make you a childminder and the expectation when a parent uses a childminder service is that their child won't be the only one being watched. Again though, you will need insurance, most people will want to know you have some kind of qualification or experience and disclosure checks.

My former nanny-share also had a daughter of her own, but the same age as the other children. More tricky I would think if there is a big age difference, and if you're expecting to be in their house. Other than that, not a problem per se I think.
Do you have nanny qualifications and references? If I was a parent looking to use you I would be looking for those.
As long as your rates are reasonable and you are able to offer the flexibility that people may also be looking for in a nanny, then I'm sure you'd have some interest.

I believe in prioritising his needs above my career, etc etc. I live with my parents at the moment, that's how I can afford it.

Was this your idea or theirs?

Also do your parents want another kid around?

I also wouldn’t hire a nanny with a toddler in tow. I did a trial once with a nanny w a 2 year old and my primary school child and it was a nightmare, no way that would have worked our. My child ended up looking after toddler and making sure she wouldn’t destroy her toys and books. I want nannies and babysitters that can look after my children. OP can you get funded childcare hours for your child and start working term time and put them in nursery or with a childminder?

It's in their house. So they have every right to keep their own child with them.

And generally, you don't expect 1-2-1 attention from a childminder. They have a mix of children of all ages, from different household. The children are keep safe, fed and occupied until pick up.

No special attention or errands, unlike Nannie's.

Honestly why aren’t women/mums supporting other mums? This is one of the reasons why mothers are so disadvantaged in our society, where incidentally we also have the highest childcare bills by a country mile in all of Europe. What are childcare professionals expected to do with their own kids while at work? Also, wouldn’t someone who is a mum themselves add value with their own experience?

A young mum is looking to get back into work and many posters say only 1-2-1 care is acceptable? Did nobody have siblings growing up? Did nobody’s mum share the childcare burden with other mums/ get someone to do school runs for small groups of children? Nursery? School groups of 15-20+? Looking after multiple children of varied ages, one being their own, used to be perfectly possible.

Fair enough about terminology tweaks.

OP just wish you the best of luck. Families apparently vary but I’m sure if you are reliable, offer flexible hours etc, especially someone with 2+ kids may bite your hand off for a good rate like £12 ph. Just don’t sell yourself short, especially if transport is involved, your labour is worth at least minimum wage. Also, very cheap rates arouse suspicion.

Just an idea, any mums that you know through DC that have gone back to work and need childcare? That may be a place to start.