Full time nanny SW London - £9 net per hour ok?

[UsedToBeAContender]

Just trying to get a sense of how much the going rate is for nannies in London. Most jobs I've seen advertised are around £9 per hour net which works out at about £34,000 gross pa.

We are looking for someone to help look after 3 DCs, 2 are at school. Shared care with mum. Hours 8-7pm during term time and 9/10am to 7pm during holidays.

Does £34K sound about right?

Any thoughts much appreciated!

I think the hourly salary is more important than the annual salary, TBH, as you're asking quite long hours there.

When I was a nanny 4 years ago (albeit for a couple of hours an afternoon), I was paid £10 per hour net to look after 3 children.

Ok, so probably £10 per hour more reasonable. Would you (as a nanny) have been bothered by your pay going down slightly in the Summer holidays if your hours were reduced slightly? Like by 1 hour a day or something?

The reason I quoted annually was because in the past I have often cut the hours down or let the nanny go home early/start late without altering her pay.

We also end up being very generous in terms of holiday, our last nanny ended up with 43 days paid holiday by the end of the year due to taking her own holiday and then being off while we were away! Didn't mind though, good people are hard to find!

I think you pay what you can afford, want to pay, and according to the nanny's experience and credentials.

Some nannies are ok with a lower salary if it means more holiday etc. I would suggest you pro rata the pay/hours over a year - might make it easier for both sides to budget and you'll have less faffing around with tax and NI etc.

And agree a gross, not net, salary in the contract.

Hmm, difficult question - I'm probably not the best person to ask as I was term time only and my hours were very rigid (I'd occasionally do slightly more, but never less).

I guess if you wanted to alter the hours, then I think you are probably better off with an annual salary, but I think that ought to be a fixed amount every month and not less during holidays i.e. if you're going to pay £36k net (for the sake of my maths!) then they should be getting £3k a month every month rather than, for examply, £4k during term time and £2k in holidays. It just makes it easier to budget for - people need and like to know what they've got coming in every month.

"The reason I quoted annually was because in the past I have often cut the hours down or let the nanny go home early/start late without altering her pay."

Annual salary sounds fine to me and it could be split into 12 monthly payments. It could be agreed that it is to cover up to a maximum of x hours per year. Then any additional hours (if that ever occurred) could be paid as overtime. Any reduction in hours would make no difference to pay.

If it's right salary for your area, it's hard to know. You could advertise the job at that figure and see what sort of applicants you get.

Thanks ladies - appreciate the advice. Our current nanny is paid less than £9 per hour (we are planning a good bonus at the end of the year) but she told me this evening that her salary is in line with what all her nanny friends are earning locally. However all the jobs I have looked up seem to be offering a bit more so I was slightly confused!

We have always tried to be very generous and flexible with our nanny in every way and this has always led to a great working relationship so I didn't want any new candidates to be solely homing in on the hourly rate number!

This has been very helpful!

Sounds like a good annual salary to me. Surely those hours are pretty standard if you are working for a professional family.

I'd say £34k is plenty - that's £12ph gross based on an average 54 hours pw. It's still a buyers' market.

Whereabouts in London are you?

Sounds like a very good annual salary to me. As for holidays do you have it in her contract to take say 2 weeks in line with one of your holidays, or if you are away and she does not wish to take holiday maybe get her to spring clean the childrens rooms and playroom for a few days? I used to do this when my boss'es were on holiday.

Here it is mostly £10 p hr net but SW London covers a wide area

Holy Moly, 96 applications in 2 days!

Better get my reading glasses out and settle in for the night! Thanks for the advice!