Great job for NQ nanny ? or is it too much ?

[Grabaspoon]

I was discussing a possible new nanny position with a parent the other day - it's not for me but wondered if it would appeal to a newly qualified nanny.

3 children - 1 school age, 1 pre-school, 1 baby
Working 4 days a week (not set days)
Both parents work shifts (earliest start would be a 7am start latest finish 9pm) but could probably still keep within 8-6 framework.
Rotas decided monthly so nanny still able to plan in advance etc
£12.5 k a year with 25 days holiday.

Thoughts :)

Is that net or gross?

On a 40 hour week that works out at £6ph - seems quite low to me, especially for the flexibility needed.

I think it was gross working out to be more than minimum wage for the 18 year old college leaver instead of the nmw they would get at a nursery - although parents have said they would consider more money etc especially due to the flexibility needed.

Location can make a difference to salary - are you city, major town, small village rural?

Working 4 days a week jobs are nice but set days works best in my view. If a mix of set and variable days, then nanny isn't that free to do plan other things to fit around the job.

7am start is horrible at first... my work pattern has changed to that recently and it's taking a while to get used to. However traffic is lighter at 0630 than 0700 so it's a quicker journey to work I'm finding (work is about 8 miles away).
Some people are early risers and others are not, so if 7am start would suit the nanny or not depends if they like early starts or not.
Some people don't mind working variable hours, others prefer things to be more fixed. Same with late finish, some may be ok with that whilst others will not.
It may fall down to how far in advance the shifts will be known... a month in advance sounds ok as long as it then does not change nearer the time.

Holiday of 25 days sounds ok. Minimum is 5.6 x 3 = 16.8 days. However as it is shift work may be better to calculate holiday in hours, especially if some days are longer than others.

£12.5 k a year - sounds low but is dependent on location. Nursery work could offer similar salary (certainly in my area). It may therefore be seen as a starting nanny job and thus you may find they move on to a better paid job after a short time.

Not all newly qualified nannies will be 18 year old college leavers. I wasn't 18 when I qualified.

Neither was I Nick

The MB and I discussed this today in Theory the position would be 7.30-5.30 4 days a week.

DB will be the stable working parent - working 9-5 on 2 set days a week and "8-5" 3 days a week - however things crop up and he may find that he is on a crappy shift or that he needs to work later on those 3 days.

MB will be the less flexible working 4 days a week - no set days and a mixture of shifts ranging from starting at 7.30am and finishing at 9pm. With the late finishes DB should be able to take over at 5.30 but obviously very occassionally the nanny would need to stay later or start earlier (if DB is away or is on a rubbish shift)

MB's rota given 4 weeks in advance so MB/DB would be able to liase with nanny etc.

would the mum be happy to have a young nanny with no experience to look after her 3 young children, esp with one being a baby and one a toddler, might be a lot for a first job.

I agree. I think 3 young children, including a toddler and a baby, requires someone with a bit of experience. No offence to any nannies who were uber responsible/knowledgeable about behavior/routine/cat herding at 18, but I personally think most 18 year olds would not be able to deal well with the constant go go go and unpredictability of the position. I think your friend is better off aiming for an au pair/nanny who has had 2 to 3 years experience with very young children/babies rather than a green 18yr old. And I think they'll have to pay more money too.

For the right candidate with the right attitude it could work. It's a very attractive job in many ways and they would have lots of applicants from that kind of profile but, in addition to the pitfalls of 4 variable days, early starts etc, the parents will find that the nanny probay needs a lit of managing and time will be taken up with logistics rather than doing fun things.

Is the pre-schooler at pre-school? In many ways the ages complicate things because you have to factor in school runs and being organised, disciplined and able to get 3 children out the house. An NQ nanny may have the ability to do that however they may not and the parents risk a couple of weeks of finding out the hard way.

Personally I'd pay a bit more and get someone not fresh out of college but someone wanting to transit from nursery to nannying, or an unqualified nanny with a couple of years experience (both cheaper than qualified and a bit of experience as a nanny where your salary seems to rocket by about 50%).

Sounds like very low wages to me - it might be more than the mw but as far as I know nannies do earn more than the mw - most nursery staff on mw will be unqualified I would have thought. Also nurseries have other advantages such as colleagues and breaks. It might be different outside London though but people who I know who have paid these sorts of rates have generally been avoiding paying tax (so the nanny got the rate net rather than gross) and have had a series of short term nannies as people haven't stayed around long. We pay our unqualified but experienced nanny nearly double that gross and it's for fixed days and only one child. The problems with variable days is she won't be able to get another job and on that sort of salary she may need one unless she's living at home or somewhere else very cheap.

sounds like very very low pay to me.

Cant imagine even wanting it as 1st nanny job, sorry.

Especially as you want 5 days kept free for you (ok with a months notice) yet only pay them for 4 days, thus cant even bump up their very low wages with another one day a week job.

In all honesty even for double the salary you are offering, id think twice

(oh and im in yorkshire, and was offered a lot more pay than you are offering for a 40hour a week job in a nursery (which i didnt take)) So you might be asking nursery staff (who want to move into nannying) to take a significant pay cut to work for you!

just to add she is entitiled to 22.4 days holiday (5.6 x 4), which you would probably round up to 23.

You are giving 25 days, which yes, is slightly more generous but IMO doesnt make up for low pay.

I always insisted on 5 weeks holiday + bank holidays in my contract, and none of my bosses ever had issues with that. and in reality i normally got at least 7 weeks paid holiday per year

I must have been rather tired last night. Not sure where the x3 holiday figure came from given it's a 4 day a week job!

The holiday isn't much of an incentive as it's close to minimum anyway.

How does the salary compare with other jobs in the area - nanny jobs, nursery jobs and non childcare jobs?