Can a nanny be cheaper (and better) for 2 children?

[fruji]

I've been back at work for a couple of months after DS2 and the cost of childcare is crippling me. I'm in outer SW London, so it's pricey. The eldest is 4 and in a local private nursery, the youngest (14 mnths) is with a local, fantastic childminder. We chose it that way as we felt their needs were different. But it's costing me more than my salary in real terms and is starting to seem slightly crazy. Especially as the nursery is putting up its fees in Jan.

My take home after salary sacrifice is around £1500/month (more if I did away with childcare vouchers), so my question is could I find a nanny to care for my kids for less than that? We'd be looking at 9 to 6.30 probably, so about 38 hours a week. Flexible about nanny share and nanny with own baby.

Also thinking long term when DS1 goes to school next September whether this would be a much better set-up?

I'm a CM so can't comment on the cost of a nanny, that may work out cheaper? But if you have a fantastic childminder, would it work for your 4 year old to go to them and maybe attend a local nursery attached to the school you'd like them to go to? Just a thought.

Hopefully some nannies will be along shortly :)

Your whole take home gives you a budget of £375/wk, as a gross amount - meaning (because nannies tend to compare their salaries in net terms) you'd have to be offering a net weekly wage of about £275 (the rest would go on tax/NI).

Do you have room for a live-in? At £275 net/wk for a full-time job I think you are unlikely to attract good live-out candidates. Even live-in might be tricky at that rate.

However, as you say, nannyshare and nanny-with-own-baby (which is effectively a nannyshare with the nanny herself) could help - a nannyshare with another family better, as the 'discount' for a nanny-with-own-baby doesn't tend to be that much. But if you found another family with one child, that could be a job with 3 children for just over £400 net/wk - much more attractive.

Forgot to ask whether your take home budget includes the value of your childcare vouchers - marginal, but would make a difference.

Short answer - probably not. Nanny tends to be cheaper option with 3 children. With 2 children it can cost a bit more than other forms of childcare.

Are you able to offer accommodation? A live-in nanny may work out similar cost.

For now I will assume you would be considering a Live-Out nanny.

How do you get 38 hours? 9am-6.30pm is 9.5 hours. 9.5 x 5 = 47.5

Are you looking at less days per week?

Yup, sorry, I'm 4 dpw, not 5. Thought I'd said that but clearly not (was lying awake thinking about this last night). So net hourly rate just over £7. Hmm, not very likely in London is it?

Looneytune - that would be great, as DS1 went there pre-nursery, only the childminder is chocka and also only picks up from a nursery/school that I would never get into anyway (not being a church goer). But is so good with babies we wanted DS2 to go there rather than nursery.

We're looking for live-out really. We have a box room, but it is really, REALLY small and I can't believe that anyone would actually want to live in there.

So nanny share - how do you go about finding someone to share with? Most mums I know are stay at home or already sorted.

Oh, and Bink - take home is after childcare vouchers have been deducted. I'm sort of assuming that nannies don't take them - or can they if they're Offsted registered?

unless you find a nwoc tbh its unlikely you will find someone for £7nett in london

there is a nannyshare website but cant rem the site address

and yes an ofsted reg nanny will happily take vouchers - but you need to pay for the registration costs

im not an ofsted nanny as both mb/db companies dont do the vouchers but from friends who are it is a real pita as some get paid 3 times a month from mb/db voucher scheme and then the rest of their salary

You also need to keep in mind that your £1500 budget needs to cover everything... not just the salary. There are other costs involved as well, such as outings. See example I did last year.

£1500 a month would cover a salary of £8 gross an hour, just. Currently £8 gross x 38 hours a week, once Employers NI added on, is £1429 cost to employer per month. Start factoring in other costs, then your budget quickly goes.

Vouchers don't need to be difficult - what we do is pay in the normal way (ie from our own a/c) for a bit while the voucher account builds up, then when it's got a reasonable amount in it switch to paying the whole lot from that. No issue for nanny at all - she gets the whole amount into her bank a/c every week, difference just affects us - ie where we send it from. So that bit doesn't have to be a problem.

Registration costs - you might be lucky and find someone already registered. Otherwise, though it tends to be that employers pay the costs, it isn't fixed that way - ie you could theoretically ask someone who wanted your job to get themselves registered at their own cost. Unlikely ... but not impossible.

Again, if you found a nannyshare, they could share the Ofsted costs.

Tinies, I think, has a nannyshare website. Or just do a google - there are various out there. Best is word of mouth - spread it around!

Sorry Blondes - what does nwoc mean?

And childcare vouchers don't need to be a dealbreaker. At the end of the day it's about the nanny rather than how they're paid really.

Looks like I need to do some advanced maths...

I wouldn't assume childcare gets easier when DC1 goes to school.

DS1 was on half days for a WHOLE TERM. Then there are holidays, impromtu reading assemblies, harvest festivals, all sorts of short notice stuff where it's good to have someone able to show up with DC2 to watch. Do childminders do playdates? This helps with settling into schol sometimes.

Can the children's father also get childcare vouchers? This would cut your costs some more.

Simply Childcare sort out some nanny shares. And other agencies do too - Ginas of Wimbledon if you are nearish to them.

Nwoc = nanny with own child

Bink - if only my friends employers would do that - sounds much easier :)

Ah yes, all our local schools do first term 1/2 days - another reason why I'm thinking about the nanny option.

We both get childcare vouchers at the mo and of course we split the cost of childcare so it doesn't all come out of my salary. But pure economic terms - for this year at least - we are worse off with me at work. I won't go into the reasons why I've chosen to work - not really the place for it on this thread. I just don't really want to pay for it. Prepared to break even, if I have too.

All really helpful advice / info BTW - please do keep on with your words of wisdom.