What is a reasonable pay rise to give?

[VelmaDaphne]

My nanny has been with us for 14 months, and I'm really pleased with her. She works 2 or 3 days a week, depending on my work schedule, and she's very flexible with this arrangement.

I plan to give here a pay rise at the end of this month, and originally I had thought of increasing her hourly rate from £10 to £11. (we're in the midlands). However, in common with many people at the moment, I am likely to be having a moderate salary reduction in the coming months, so I'm slightly anxious about money.

Would an increase to £10.50 per hour be acceptable, do you think? Or would that be really mean?

I haven't discussed any of this with my nanny yet so she won't have budgeted for anything based on a specific rise.

Out of curiosity, how often do most people give their nanny a pay rise?

Is that gross or net? I think a 5% is reasonable if you can afford it (that is on a full-time annual salary) so I am not sure about a part-time position.

Although an increase in my salary is always nice, I would not expect it and if you can't afford it maybe buy her a nice present, flowers or/and write her a card showing her your appreciation?

A small increase in the hourly wage can equate to quite a big increase in yearly salary. So do the calculations to make sure any increase you give is affordable, taking into account anything else that may increase, like Employers National Insurance.

If they were doing 20 hours per week at £10 gross per hour, then currently it's costing you £209 per week including Employers NI.
From April, it drops to £208 per week but your employee takes home £4 per week more than they did in the previous tax year. This assumes you are their only employer.
If you increased to £11 per hour, then your cost rises to £231 a week.
Have a play with MrAnchovy's PAYE Calculator to see how changes to pay affect your cost.

A pay rise is lovely and I expect that if someone gets a rise in their own job, they would try to pass on some of that rise to their nanny. However if you are not getting a pay rise yourself, it may be hard to justify one for your nanny.