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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Numbers!

21 replies

willow3006 · 28/10/2011 11:19

Hi there

I'm useless with the figures and am just starting to try to work out how much I'd be paying a nanny. We have advertised for a nanny but only have a small budget of £1500 a month. This has to include everything and I know that with nannies you have to pay their tax and insurance, etc.

Can anyone work out for me what this means I'd be paying the nanny per month and how much I'd be paying for their insurance, etc (so what would be their pay net and gross)?

We have actually had a few responses which I was surprised at as it's quite a low figure for where we live but I want to make sure the nannies that have responded realise the amount they will get per month.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks

OP posts:

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mranchovy · 28/10/2011 11:45

£1,390 a month gross which should leave her with £1,142 net.

www.mranchovy.com/calc/

Original poster

willow3006 · 28/10/2011 11:55

Wow! That was quick! Thanks. That does seem very low for a nanny position - I hope we find someone.

OP posts:

nannynick · 28/10/2011 13:39

There are also other costs to take into account, such as activities, travel, payroll admin, nannies lunch. If those all need to be in your budget then it's going to push the salary lower.

What costs are you wanting the 1500 a month to cover?

Original poster

willow3006 · 28/10/2011 13:55

To be honest - everything! There aren't going to be many activities that 4 month olds can do though I guess. I'm having twin boys and just don't have more than that to spend on childcare. We looked at nurseries but the cheapest near us will be over 2k a month. I'm looking at childminders too but some of the nannies that have written to me seem to be cheaper than the £8 an hour per child childminders. It's such a minefield!!

OP posts:

Iggly · 28/10/2011 14:40

Have you advertised at £1500 a month? Just wondered if nannies might have thought they'd get more than they actually will after tax - most I dealt with asked about net hourly pay (which was news to me and was bugger working out a gross wage from that as had been told to put a gross figure in contract)

Iggly · 28/10/2011 14:41

Also does your/DH's employer do childcare vouchers? We use these for our nanny.

nannynick · 28/10/2011 15:49

A nanny will get very isolated without being able to go out. Even a local baby/toddler group at a church is likely to charge a £1 or so and your nanny and boys will need to get there.

Babies soon get bigger, get more mobile. Costs will rise as they get older, I feel you need to factor that in. Also your nanny will be delighted to get a pay rise on occasion. Taxation rates change, so Employers NI could easily rise come April 2012.

Nannies contacting you may not be giving you the figures you need to know. It isn't like a childminder where the fee paid includes most of the things that cost (though do check with childminders what is and isn't included). With nannies, I feel you need to be telling them how much salary you are offering... then letting them decide if they can accept the job based on that salary level. You are the employer of a nanny, so you decide what the salary is, not get told by a nanny what to pay.

Where are you located - town, city, rural village? Is it a live-in nanny job, or live-out. How many days per week, how many hours per week? Childminders charging £8 per hour per child seems very high... are you London?

If it was say 10 hours per day, 5 days per week, then your £1500 would not cover a salary of much above National Minimum Wage (£6.08 per hour for someone aged 21+).

Is your partner contributing to the cost of childcare? It shouldn't all be from your salary, they are his children as well.

anewyear · 28/10/2011 16:05

Blimey!! Childminders charging £8 an hour!!
Im guessing you must live in a rather affulent part of the country
Im a chidminder in Hertfordshire £4 is more or less the going rate in my part of the county, I may come live with you

mranchovy · 28/10/2011 17:12

I presume £8 is for both twins, which is a pretty low rate TBH. You are unlikely to find a nanny that is capable of dealing with 4MO twins that will work for much less.

Iggly · 28/10/2011 17:23

Agree with nannynick. There are only so many free things (local library and children centre) but they will need to get out. Plus good way of finding local playmates for when they're older.

I live in London and got our nanny for £7 an hour but that's only because it was her first nanny job (not her first childcare job though). We also have a cash pot (ie kitty), pay her travel if she takes DS anywhere, pay a bonus at Xmas and have given her a payrise after being here for a year.

anewyear · 29/10/2011 14:42

Oops didnt think of that, then £4 ph per child would be about right round here.

Just out intrest Mr A, why do you think that a nanny, would'nt be capable of looking after twins?
Yes 4mths is young but they still sleep a fair bit (if your lucky ) at that age dont they?
Plenty of Parents have to do it, plus with other siblings thrown in to the mix?
School runs, shopping etc?

nannynick · 29/10/2011 15:14

I think MrA was saying that a nanny with the experience to care for 4mth twins would be wanting £8+

The OP wrote that it was £8 per child. So until the OP comes back, we don't know for sure if it's £8 for both, or each.

mranchovy · 30/10/2011 12:09

Oh yes, she did say £8 per child. That is IMHO way over the top for a childminder, perhaps that's why there are two vacancies for under-ones.

Original poster

willow3006 · 01/11/2011 09:51

Sorry for the delay in coming back! Yes £8 per hour per child. I'm in Richmond which seems to be so expensive! It's such a nightmare because my husband and I both earn a decent wage but can't live on just 1 wage. The problem is that any kind of childcare round here appears to be more than I earn. I've looked into childcare vouchers but it barely makes a difference after the April 2011 changes.

OP posts:

chocolatecrispies · 01/11/2011 19:22

Is that £1500 budget for full time? Because surely that can't be more than you earn if you are affected by the changes to Childcare vouchers and are therefore a higher rate tax payer. Is the £8h from cm really for every hour? Around here it's £8 an hour if they just do a few hours but £5 if they do all day. I would say that one big problem is that you want to be leaving your children will someone you will feel happy and confident with and if you advertise well below the Market rate you will only get people who can't get the market rate for some reason. Of course if it's live in that's completely different. Our nanny costs us about £1200 a month all in and that is only for 2.5 days, we are paying the going rate in east London.

mranchovy · 01/11/2011 21:07

Yes there are childminders in Richmond that charge £8ph, but there are also some that charge £5 or less. The difficulty is going to be 2 vacancies for under-1s: vacancy lists are never up to date IME so you need to get a full list from the council and start ringing round. Vacancies might be easier to find at a nursery.

Another option might be a Nanny With Own Child.

If it has to be a full time nanny I'd say you need to up your 'all-in' budget by 50%-100%.

Original poster

willow3006 · 02/11/2011 11:35

There are none that charge £5 or less in Richmond for 2 though! And yes, there appears to be only a handful that have the ability to look after 2 under 1s but there are some. There's no way we could afford to up the budget unfortunately.

I was hoping to avoid having to give up our only spare room but I think this may be our only option although isn't it mainly au pairs that want to live in? I'm not sure I'd trust an au pair with sole charge?

Chocolatecrispies - no that's £1500 for 4 days which is why it would be pointless me going back even as a higher rate taxpayer.

OP posts:

missymoo2411 · 02/11/2011 13:19

couldnt you find a childminder well before you go back to work and ask them to get a variation for 2 under ones or have you tryed putting a thred on here for cm in richmond i did it for a mindee who move to se 18 and found her a cm for 4.50p/h insted of 9.00 p/h good luck x

nannynick · 02/11/2011 13:19

Nannies with qualificatiosns and/or experience will also do live-in work. They may be from the UK or from abroad. It isn't just au-pairs.

mranchovy · 02/11/2011 15:13

No, there are plenty of live-ins with great experience - much more common than live-out in the leafy suburbs IME.

If you can offer Friday off and you put this up on Gumtree at perhaps £300 a week live in - must have qualifications and/or experience with babies I think you will have loads of applications from antipodeans on Tier 5 visas. Yes you will lose your spare room (prioritise), you will have to choose carefully because nursery experience (which is all they are likely to have) is very different from sole charge, you will have to work hard to check out their qualifications and references and they can only stay for 2 years, but we have had and known others with great nannies in similar situations.

It helps people to help you if you give as much information as possible at the outset rather than drip-feeding where you are, you only want 4 days a week, you can accomodate a live-in etc.

chocolatecrispies · 02/11/2011 19:20

Also, if you won't be earning over the top rate of tax when you work 4 days then you can get the full childcare voucher amount which helps a lot. You might find you can make other savings, having a nanny we were happy with was so important to us for example that we have sold our (only) car to afford it.

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