How much would you pay this nanny?

[yesway]

We are about to recruit a live in nanny and I would like advice about how much pay to offer.

This is the remit:

Mon-Fri 8am - 7pm (Our current nanny finishes by 6.15pm but when she was learning the ropes it took longer)
Sat and Sun off

We have 2 girls 5 and 3 who attend school and preschool. I will take them and collect them except Tues afternoons when they would need collecting by nanny. (I work part time round school hours.)

Nanny would have sole charge of 6 month old and 2.5 yr old boys. With 2.5 yr old attending nursery 3 mornings a week.

I would expect help with laundry and clearing up after meals but no other cleaning (we have a cleaner).

We would also want the occasional (once a month) night of babysitting.

What I am prepared to pay will depend on experience BUT the attributes I'm looking for are:

1. Someone bright and intelligent
2. Good spoken English
3. Over 23 - the older the better

But I'm not too bothered about their previous childcare experience as I think that with the right attitude and personality they will learn what to do and bonding with baby / children doesn't come from experience.

So I've had interested from some uber experienced nannies ie 30yr old nannying since 19 who I don't think we can afford.

But there is a candidate who is czech but has been speaking English at work for 2 years. Her childcare experience is of raising her niece and nephew who are 2 and 6 months and have lived with her all their lives.

She wants to move into childcare from a boring office job and this would be great CV points for her. If it worked out after a year I would be prepared to give her a hefty payrise on the basis that she then had experience and could get better pay elsewhere.
Assuming her English is good enough - what would you pay?

I'm surprised you're not bothered about childcare experience with a 6 month old needing sole care. I get it that you think you can't afford a highly experienced and trained nanny, but what about someone whose finished at college training in childcare and looking for their first job, or someone who want sot bring their own child so is cheaper?

If you go for the Czech girl, you need to pay nanny rates and not au pair rates, as au pairs can't do sole charge of babies. The very bottom end of nannying rates for your area is I guess the right thing to pay, I guess, as well as paying for her to do a first aid course as soon as possible.

You have 5 under 5??? Respect.

I take your point checkmate - and fully expected to get that response on here. I have hired a nanny before (who did have experience) but I strongly feel that personality matters much more than knowledge.

We're in London - but I don't know what the bottom end of the nanny pay scale is.

geordieminx - there's only 4 of them

Every nanny starts somewhere and not all are qualified. As long as you are satisfied with her skills and have time to show her the basics it's doable. I would insist on 1st aid though.

£250 gross/week? Where in the country are you?

I agree. All the nannies with baby experience have it because someone with a baby took them on.

We're in London.
£250 gross would be about £210 net now and £215 net from April. Or £11,271 net annual from April. Is that fair. I wouldn't feel too bad paying that. Should I?

I would say for an older nanny with some experience, for those hours and potentially 4 children at once to look after that £250 net would be the minimum.

For the candidate you mentioned the salary would probably be about right

You wouldn't get an older, more experienced nanny for less than £20k a year in my experience.

Well for that candidate with no formal experience £250 gross is fair IMO. It's live in so she'd have no outgoings.

For a qualified but inexperienced girl add £50 gross, or a couple of years experience. Then add £50 more for a relatively experienced (2+ years) qualified nanny and £50 more for someone with 5+ years and baby experience and it doesn't look so bad.

Good FT jobs, especially starter jobs, are hard to come by!

What are the very experienced nannies asking for in terms of salary?

That's really helpful.

Thank you.

i am also surprised you dont want a nanny with basic exp of young ones as you have a 6mth baby and toddler boys

you say the nanny wont have to do school runs and have all 4 apart from tuesday but im assuming that she will have the 3yr when back from preschool - or is the 3yr at school all day

but what happens in the school holidays? again im assuming your work and your nanny will have sole charge most of the day of 4yr young children

so not i wouldnt employ this girl who has had no real childcare exp apart from relatives as nanny to 4 under 5/6yrs

Blondes -your assumptions are correct.

3yo is at preschool for full school day though.

She would have them all in school holidays - when we are not on hols ourselves - i.e. 8weeks/ year. If she struggles with it I could arrange playscheme for oldest or maybe some grandparental help.

You would be asking x lot of an inexperienced nanny to be able to handle 4 under 6yr olds and balance all their needs. Its a lot of responsibility and stress. I would look for someone from a large family themselves, if you don't want to pay for more experience. On a bad day she could have the oldest two at each others throats, the 2yr old paddying cos they want to join in, and the baby screaming and teething. How would you want her to deal with that? Especially if she's not been there done that before. Personality matches are great but I would seriously look for experienced candidates too as you will end up having to mop her tears at the end of the day too! Looking after lots of littlies is tough even if you know what you're doing.

You would be asking x lot of an inexperienced nanny to be able to handle 4 under 6yr olds and balance all their needs. Its a lot of responsibility and stress. I would look for someone from a large family themselves, if you don't want to pay for more experience. On a bad day she could have the oldest two at each others throats, the 2yr old paddying cos they want to join in, and the baby screaming and teething. How would you want her to deal with that? Especially if she's not been there done that before. Personality matches are great but I would seriously look for experienced candidates too as you will end up having to mop her tears at the end of the day too! Looking after lots of littlies is tough even if you know what you're doing.

as the nanny would be having all 4 children sole charge for holidays and agree with the scenario that wrinkly said, i would not employ this girl

you really need to consider/look at more exp nanny's :)

Im a mum of 4 too and have worked as a nanny, Im currently out of work (all my children are at school full time) and I struggle to find childcare work with families as I have no formal qualifications at all, just simply raising my children and 2 previous jobs before the children came along. I say people should be more relaxed and of course with references etc, sometimes experince comes from within not from going to college. I would maybe ask her what her pay expectations would be, it may be useful to know what she expects

4 children for a 1st job is a lot, especially with a baby as well.

its very different being a mum of 4 and raising them every day for 5+ years and wanting to look after children

to employing an office worker who has spent a few hours every/most day for 2 years playing/looking after with her niece/nephew

what do you pay your current nanny, can you afford to pay the same for another nanny with exp rather than employ someone with no childcare exp for less money?

why is your current nanny leaving and how long has she been with you?

Current nanny has been with us for two years and has always said since her interview that she wanted to stay just two years. She doesn't like to feel she's stagnating.

We pay her £22,000 gross. She was originally hired to look after three preschoolers inc 6 mo while I worked full time.

It would be a struggle to pay the next nanny the same amount as our mortgage is about to go up significantly.

Its possible to find someone for less than that but I stand by my opinion with 4 youngsters you need to employ someone experienced. Being a mum of 4 is very different to being a nanny of 4. As a nanny you have legal liability for anything that might happen to the children under your care. Lots can go wrong. A child could bolt on the one school run she does. Tantrums in quadruple surround sound. Feeding them. Bathing them. Discipline. Etc etc. As a mum you muddle through and if god forbid anything happened it is ok as you are the parent and as such the buck stops with you. However an inexperienced nanny would have to bear the blame etc and you would hold her_entirely responsible. Its not worth the risk. A couple of years office experience and helping out with her niece and nephew will no way prepare this girl for the constant barrage of nappies, food, crying, mess, etc that four children will create. Sorry to sound negative but I really believe you need to consider the worst case scenario in choosing a caregiver because its never the things that go right that you end up regretting.

for those hours and wages you are offering £7.70 gross - about £330nett which is VERY low but obv over min wage

tho obv min wage doesnt count as you want live in

We're currently advertising and have been told by the agency that £9 p/h gross live-in and £11 p/h gross live-out is the going rate (minimum) outside of London and home counties.

saltyseadog - I may be overly cynical but I think the agency is trying to make their job much easier - they won't have any difficulty filling the post and taking their cut if you agree to pay that much.

Depends on the level of experience you're looking for I guess yesway. I need someone with a lot of experience to look after my dcs (one has SN). Having said that the OP has 5 dcs, so therefore is also probably going to have to pay more than the average rate.

We don't we have 4 dcs....

Experience level will make a difference, though I'm in Home Counties just outside of London and don't get £11 p/h gross for live-out (though may get quite near that amount).

Yesway - I can never really tell how much a live-in job should pay, as accommodation is hard to factor into the equation.
For NMW purposes, accommodation offset is currently £4.51 per day. So maybe aim to pay NMW at minimum.

I agree with others that 4 children is a lot of work, so may not be something all that suitable for someone who has not done childcare in the past. However it depends on what their experience is... as they may not have been a nanny in the past but may have lots of other relevant experience.