What is a 'reasonable' nanny agency fee?

[fromheretomaternity]

I am looking for a nanny and have failed to find anyone through advertising on Gumtree and Nannyjobs so I have registered for a local agency. They would charge me £1200 if I found my nanny through them (flat fee for a permanent 4 day a week nanny).

It's a massive amount of money for not doing very much but does anyone have an idea if it's in line with other agencies? (Nb I am in London). Most of the agencies don't seem to publish fees on their website so I'm a bit in the dark.

Can't help you with fees, apart to confirm that yes, they are high!!!

You could try Childcare.co.uk - for a low fee you can have a look on the profiles on there. Actually, you can look for free but you can't contact anyone unless they have paid for their profile.

A month of the nannies pay seems quite typical - can be more. Don't know why agencies are often shy about showing their prices. Some agencies do give pricing on their websites, NannyTree says 3.5x weekly salary, though not sure if that's Net or Gross. So anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks salary I expect is within usual range, with there being minimum fee levels in the case of a part-time nanny.

Before you contact agencies have a little think about why you haven't found anyone through Gumtree or Nannyjob - have you been clear in your advert what you require? Are you asking for flexibility/extra languages/particularly long hours or very short hours/particular qualifications - anything that might make it harder to find a suitable candidate. Have you advertised the wage - maybe it is too low? If you haven't put the wage some nannies may not reply to an ad.

I say this because when I job hunt and all nannies that I know that have been looking for jobs will have registered with agencies but also always check nannyjob and gumtree. Have you tried childcare.co.uk?

Thanks - I hadn't tried childcare.co.uk and will have a look now and post an ad. I got a lot of applications through gumtree but most didn't have enough experience (am after someone with preferably 5 years or so nannying experience). We had interviews with a couple of nannies whose references didn't check out, so we now only have the agency nanny left on the shortlist.

I didn't put a wage as I didn't want to put (say) £10 / hour if there's a chance we might get someone who would charge less - and also I don't really know what the going rate is.

Why 5 years experience... seems a bit much, would a nanny with 3 years experience not have enough? It also probably depends on what that experience exactly is, as you may be wanting someone with baby, toddler, pre-school aged child experience... also may want someone who has cared for school aged children. However if a nanny has been in a job a while, the children will have grown up over that time, so whilst they have baby experience that baby may now be 3, 4, 5 years old. So maybe phrase things in such a way that you attract applicants who have say cared for a baby and a toddler at the same time (or whatever it is you are specifically looking for).

I think to get a nanny who has a lot of experience, you do need to be making the job advert as clear as possible and give salary indication - as experienced nannies if they apply at all will first ask how much you are paying.

£10 per hour gross, live out, London is probably a bit on the low side for an experienced nanny, especially one with 5 years+ experience - I know it was just an example you were giving but if it was that then it may not be enough to get what you want. Some London jobs can be offering £15 gross. Looking at other ads will give some idea of a reasonable salary... I expect £13 gross may be about right to get someone with the desired experience. Could depend on location, as if they can live somewhere cheaper and commute with a shortish travel time, then that may appeal.

Just outside the M25 South West, I get around £10 gross and could get more looking at current job ads in the area.

Some agencies charge quite low fees... just found one which would charge £95 for introducing a 4-day a week nanny to you. LK Childcare Agency, Kent So shopping around agencies can be worthwhile if you can find one in your area with a lower fee. However does that then mean they have different criteria for nannies to be on their books, though perhaps not. Nannies may well register with several agencies in the area, so you may find the same nanny via a different agency.

LK say they do now cover London (It's great when you can Tweet a company and get near instant reply). So definitely worth shopping around agencies to find one which can find you the right nanny, for the right fee.

You could put a salary scale into your ad ie £11-£14 gross and then offer the nanny what you feel her worth is. Or you could ask that a nanny should reply with her salary expectations.

generally the agencies in my area se (west kent) charge 3/4weeks salary

maybe put in ad,salary negotiable due to experience

I generally pay 4-5 weeks salary as a fee when I've used an agency. Nanny jobs and gum tree combined yielded 130 applicants in 7 days when I advertised the last time. My tips are to include photos of the house and family,and to give lots of detail as to exactly what you're looking for. Mention the upsides of your job (great location, flexi hours, daily cleaner, generous kitty etc etc / whatever makes you better than the next job on the list!).

Many of my applicants, when I asked 'so why THIS job as opposed to any other?' replied that the advert suggested that we liked and were engaged with our children. Good luck finding the right nanny for your family .

Look at the date - this thread was resurrected by a spam post that was deleted.

My wife just had a baby and we are having a tough time. We would like a maternity nurse for a week or a night nanny. How much would do you think a good agency will charge for 1 week and how much would the agency fee be?

I'm a nanny with 13 years experience in the field. I have just had to leave my job due to not being able to socially distance with the infants at work. As the next few months and possibly even year is going to be hard to find work where I can distance myself, I thought about opening a nanny agency. I have yet to do this, but in the meantime I really need to build some testimonials and would like to find some families willing to let me help, of course this would be for a massively reduced fee in comparison to leading agencies.

If you are at all interested or need some advice, please get in touch xx

@ale17 congrats

I’m a mn. Have been for 10yrs and previously before that a sole charge nanny for 20yrs

Mn set their own rates and varies on experience and sometimes area. Average £15/20ph So 150/200 for 9-7 10hr night

Agencies usually charge per night and average seems to be £25

Where are you ?

I’m Kent and cover Kent Surrey and most of west /easy sussex