Is £500 per week net really the going rate for a London nanny?

[Gangle]

Have been told this many times by nannies and agencies but, having looked through the ads on Gumtree and Nannyjob, it seems that lots of employers offer salaries of a lot less than this. We may be hiring a new nanny in the near future and it would help a lot financially if I could get her to agree to a salary of £375 net per week for a 4 day week or £475 for a 5 day week, or even less £350/£450) if possible. Will she think I am taking the piss though? Still works out to a salary of around 33/34k, I believe. I want to pay her as much as I can but paying £500 a week is going to make things tight financially. We paid our previous nanny £500 per week but this was a nanny share in which each family paid £250 so it wasn't so much of a big deal

I still don't know how anyone could afford a nanny at those rates. Hardly anyone down here (Devon) even earns that much gross- not even supply teachers. Is there really such a huge difference between London salaries and the rest of the country?

Just to say that it seems like a lot of money to me.

Was your previous nanny share a full time share? Would you be able to enter into another share with someone?

Salaries vary like they do everywhere.
For some reason nanny salaries are mostly quoted in net. I'm sure NannyNick Blondes and Frak will be along soon to address this point.
For a live-in nanny the average for a five day week is about £300-350 although can be lower and higher
I've never worked live-out in London but it seems to be around £400+
A four day week is very attractive to a nanny and I will probably be flamed now but how much you want to pay can depend on what you want in your nanny. Trained, professional EMT nannies are expensive but there are plenty of other options that will do more for less if you know what I mean.

Do you want live-in or out and what part of London? There are a lot of nannies wanting work in London esp 4 day week work so I would have thought you would easily find somebody for what you're offering. I think you have to stick to your limits. Agencies always quote high prices because they get more commission but if you overstretch yourself you will end up resenting the nanny which doesn't make for a good working relationship.

Salary can vary depending on experience. I would say that London is typically 20% higher than home counties... So £12 gross per hour would not be unusual for a qualified, experienced nanny.

Some nannies work 12 hour days, others 11, 10, 9, 8 etc. So salary depends on hours worked.

IME there are lots of nannies who consider £100 per day net to be the (minimum) going rate in London. And lots of employers who near-bankrupt themselves to accomodate those rates because they think if they don't they won't get a nanny.

However, two things: no matter what impression you get from MN a lot of nanny employers do not pay tax. £10 an hour is a lot easier to accompdate if that is all you are paying. We've had three nannies and none of them had worked for someone who paid their tax before. The last two were happy to take a lesser salary to work for someone who did everything above board.

The other thing is that the job market is not that great atm. I don't know which bit of London you are in but I had one or two girls through the door who sniffed at what I was planning to pay and said "I could get £xx ph if I worked in Kensington", to which I replied, "go ahead then." My current nanny was prepared to take less because she lives near me and didn't want to commute (and if I work late she can be home very quickly) and she didn't want to be schlepping for 2 hours a day to work in Kensington or wherever.

So I say look at what you can really afford and then work on that basis. You are not going to get someone with 10 years experience but that doesn't mean you won't find someone who fits.

All you can do is advertise and see what shakes out. If it doesn't work you can always readvertise with a higher salary or consider other options. If you have space a nursery/AP combo could work depending on the ages of your children. It's likely to be cheaper than a full-time live out nanny on £500 net per week if you are paying all the tax, ni etc as that's near enough £800 (can't be bothered to pull the calc up now) p/w. Plus this person will eventually need a payrise too...If your only access is to nurseries around the £1,500 mark - still not THAT typical in London though - probably a live in nanny would be cheaper and even if not much cheaper, much more convenient.

Re: Haliborange's comments, I have had people outright tell me they are not paying all the tax. This is what inflates the salaries in this area of the country.

Gumtree is possibly not a great place to get a sense of the salaries. A lot of those ads just seem to be in cloud cukoo land and I've oftened wondered if many of them never end up hiring people.

Depends on your nanny!

I suspect I could get £500 working in London, but equally I suspect I'd be working long hours with a lot of flexibility and that's not something I would want. Then again I have various value added skills/bits of paper. I worked out speaking another language fluency (at least a desirable one) gets you about £50 extra a week, which translates to £1 an hour. Ditto a degree or any teaching qualifications. Experience comes at a premium too - an experienced nanny could command £10 net easily whereas someone with only 2/3 years would be looking more at £8. Then you take area into account plus any perks you're offering and that might adjust the salary too...

The net/gross thing.... I don't know where it came from, it's just tradition and a remarkably stupid one. Next year when the new allowances come in someone on a net salary won't be any better off. Equally if you employ a graduate nanny with a student loan or a nanny with a pre-existing job you'll end up paying more on top of a net salary.

My advice would be to advertise gross and put a net equivalent if necessary - taking into account the chance next year.

My friends just got a job in Weybridge Surrey for £450 a week

Is that Net or Gross and what are the hours?

Weybridge is inside the M25 but isn't London. It is however a little odd that on one side of the M25 it is cheaper than if on the other side!

if/when i work/ed 5 days a week then yes i can take home over £500 nett and i am not in london

yes you can find a nanny for less but she wont have so much exp as someone who commands that kind of salary

it does depend on the area/age/exp of nanny and also the current climate

a 4 day week is def a plus sign

While St George's hill in Weybridge may offer extremely high salaries to nannies, other areas of weybridge will not. I know this for a fact as I know families in Weybridge both in and not in St George's hill area.
It all depends on the income of the family. I never like to see a family overstretching themselves to afford an expensive nanny. But that's just me - with all things - live within your means is my motto :)
I know 2 nannies who work in London live in with just a few years of experience. 5 day weeks full days both of them. One with a baby. One in northwest London and one in southwest London - salaries of £300 net per week and £315 net per week, respectively. One says family is definitely struggling for money and it makes her very uncomfortable. Other one everyone is happy :)

Until a month ago I took home a salary of 420 net working 4 days in London - I'm young, no quals, but 6 years experience, especially as sole charge for under-2's.

I am job-hunting at the moment (although probably going to do mat nursing) and wouldn't agree to a salary of less than 500 net/wk for 5 days as I know I can get a great family local to me (not central London) who would pay that amount. You have to remember too how much council tax/bills/food etc and especially housing cost in London - much higher than everywhere else in the UK. Friends of mine get 550 net and higher in Kensington.

In fact there is one job advertised very local to me at the moment (NOT Kensington/Belgravia, et. al) that is paying 600/net for a single 12-month-old for 5 days. I'd say that is very top-bracket, but 500 is the 'going rate', especially for more than 1 child I find. Not saying whether it's right or wrong, it's just what you find.

Also meant to say Gangle - salary is not the only thing in a package. If you are also offering something great (as Blondes mentioned, a 4-day week is a plus for most nannies) - such as an extra week or two holiday, bonus at Christmas, use of car, money towards Oyster card (this was always a huge plus for me), etc. then the slightly lower salary won't make as big of a difference. It also depends on duties (i.e. if she doesn't have to iron, etc. would be another perk, children at nursery/school, etc).

The only problem you'll have with finding a nanny through an agency though is that nannies browse the salaries - if it's less than what s/he expects, s/he will sniff and go to the next one - they won't even look at the extra perks. So if you're going this route, I'd personally advertise through Gumtree.

Another 'beware' of agencies: a lot of the times they don't put forward the proper candidates, I say this as a job-hunting nanny currently - I have particular experience and love for babies and have had agencies repeatedly not send my CV despite asking, I then found the families through Gumtree, who hired me and skipped the agency fee - I can't tell you how pleased I was to tell them which job I'd accepted .

Wow a lot of families will soon be priced out of having a nanny if this is the current rate and it keeps rising. Will be only for the very wealthy and not so many jobs.

Star I think it's down to location. When not in London these 'going rates' drop CONSIDERABLY - but I do agree that a lot of families are getting priced out of the nanny option.

It's also very worth mentioning that most families in London paying these sorts of salaries (and any salary really) definitely want nanny to be/become Ofsted registered. I don't think it's as prevalent in other parts of the country for nannies. But I haven't come across one in my job search this time going that hasn't mentioned/wanted it.

So they do get some sort of financial help with vouchers.

I've also been astounded at £500 net per week .

I'm on £8.50 net in Hertfordshire.

I have just worked out that if I worked 12 hour days and 5 days a week (which is common for a London nanny) I would actually be on £510 net per week.

So..... I now conclude that yes, £500 net per week is the going rate for a nanny in London .

The financial help with vouchers is £243 of their salary per month tax free, so a saving of £48.60 per month. Or £97.20 per month if they are a higher rate tax payer. And that could be x2 if both parents claim, so a max of £194.40 per month.

My friend lives in Belsize Park, London (quite wealthy area for those who don't know it) and she pays her nanny £10 an hour net. This usually works out at £100 a day and she has her two days a week so yes, the £500 thing would seem to be spot on. The nanny is NOT highly qualified, is young, eastern european and studying child-care part-time. HTH.

my friends job is net and its not St Georges Hill .

I agree with the others but i would like to add that apart from location, duties etc another factor is the number and age of the children. For example if you have a 4 month old baby you probably need a qualified and very experienced nanny. Ditto if you have 3 or 4 children.

In your case, i think you have one and not very young? (because you mention that you had nanny before). So perhaps you can find someone younger/less experienced for slightly less.

Overweight - glad she found a generous family :)

I'm sure you would find a nanny for £350-£450 a week. Advertise and see who applies!

There will be nannies who wouldn't dream of working for less than £500 and others who would be happy on £300 - you have to find the right one for you.

its not a case of not being happy on £300 for 5 days,its the fact that its not enough to pay my mortgage/bills/food etc

though obv i wouldnt work for £300 for 5days as i get over that for 3 - but im old