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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

Increase in Nanny's wages due to 2nd child - help!

20 replies

foolio · 31/01/2013 17:21

Hi, I am looking for some guidance on how much to increase my nanny's wages by when I go back to work after the birth of my second child?

At the moment I pay her £9 an hour (net) to look after my 18 month old little boy. I am not planning to go back to work after the birth of my daughter, until next January,however I would like to get an idea of what would be a fair increase.

The £9 an hour means I pay her tax, National Insurance as well as my employer tax and NI.

I think it is fair to give her an increase but I have no idea what would be reasonable and also, I would be limited in terms of what I could give her, before it would become unaffordable for me to keep her.

She works 24.5 hours a week for us. I am based in Scotland.

I would like to make sure she is happy as she is a fantastic nanny and has been with us for almost a year now and I have nothing but praise for her.

Thanks for reading this!

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nannynick · 31/01/2013 17:23

Will you decrease it when one goes to school?

cansu · 31/01/2013 17:27

Why would you pay her more? Is 9.00 low for a nanny with two charges? I think that is the questions. If you are offering a fair hourly rate I don't see why the rate should go up.

OutragedFromLeeds · 31/01/2013 17:29

What's the going rate in your area?

A pay increase for more children is a nice gesture, but not really necessary so just a small increase would be fine.

I'd tie it in with her having been with you a year, a common time for a pay rise anyway, and maybe up it to £9.50 or £10,

If you're already paying top end, I'd leave it though, depends what the starting point is.

Nick I assume the nanny will still be responsible for the children when one is at school, so wages wouldn't change, unless the child was going to boarding school and the nanny would be in no way 'on call' for that child.

Original poster

foolio · 31/01/2013 17:30

Thanks cansu, I honestly don't know what is a fair rate for two charges.

Nannynick- yes I would be reducing the rate when my older one starts kindy next September- my nanny is fine with this.

OP posts:

forevergreek · 31/01/2013 17:32

A nanny generally has a set rate. No extra for extra child, no reduction for a child being at nursery part the day.

Original poster

foolio · 31/01/2013 17:32

Thank you OOL - I thought £10 might be ok.I am going to give her an annual increase anyway. Not sure what the going rate is in Glasgow for 2,but I know that at the nursery she works in on the days she's not with us, she gets £8.50 net so I can't be too far off at £9 net.

OP posts:

MrAnchovy · 31/01/2013 18:27

Really? Either you or the nursery should be deducting 20% tax from her pay so either the nursery is paying at least £10.62ph or you are paying at least £11.25ph - more if (as is likely) National Insurance thresholds are being crossed.

Are you sure that neither of you say "net" when you mean "cash in hand"?

nannynick · 31/01/2013 18:54

As you would drop salary when less children it is fair to increase it with more children. As you nanny is happy with a drop in salary - many in my view would not be happy - what drop would they be expecting?

Maybe this a good opportunity to revise the contract, agree a gross salary, so you do not get stung by changes in taxcode.

nannynick · 31/01/2013 18:59

Nannies in my view are paid per family not per child. I have worked for families with 3, 4 children so if pay was per child I should have earned loads.

Upping by a couple of pounds an hour could add massively to your costs, especially if net pay on BR taxcode (which can be a taxcode used for secondary employment).

Original poster

foolio · 31/01/2013 20:21

Mranchovy, I am a chartered tax adviser by profession and operate my own payroll for my nanny so I am aware of the difference between gross and net. Were you attempting to get a little bit of publicity for your own website?

Nanny nick thanks for your comments and I agree re contract review.

OP posts:

ElenaKnight · 31/01/2013 20:27

I have never uped my nannies wages when another child has joined the fold- and we have six, soon to be seven (although one is grown up and looks after herself).

Pay is dependant on age and experience with nannies- not how many children they look after. If she is doing a good job and your children love her- then maybe up her wages for that, but not because your having another child.

I've had nannies for nearly 22 years and never had a problem with this.

fraktion · 31/01/2013 20:33

Those seem awfully high wages for nursery. £8.50 gross maybe.

Either way a small rise would I'm sure be appreciated. £10net is minimum London rate for a fairly experienced nanny, I doubt Glasgow is that expensive so I expect you'd be paying top end and giving a hefty payrise of you did that. No reason not to providing you can afford it but it seems high.

OutragedFromLeeds · 31/01/2013 21:10

I think increasingly nannies are being paid slightly more for more children. IME it's because parents with one baby want a nanny, but don't want to pay £13ph (gross) which is about the going rate in London. They offer less and I think nannies are willing to take less on account of it being an easier job. Families with 2/3 are paying the normal £13ph and families with 4/5/6/7 are paying a bit more to get attractive candidates (not many will take on 5 for the same money as having 2).

It makes sense really because the workload for a nanny with one baby vs the workload of a nanny looking after 5 is really different; reflected in different rates of pay.

Karoleann · 31/01/2013 21:44

I don't know any nannies that are paid more per child and I don't think she would be expecting more money.
However, maybe offer £9.25/ hour net, especially if you are using BR code is a significant pay rise.

Strix · 01/02/2013 07:58

I think that with a nanny what happens when the next arrives is that her duties get altered a bit because of course she can't reasonable by expected to have as much time for child one when there is also a child 2 (or 3). So, her hours (and pay) would remain, but she may have less time for say cooking or the nurery duties.

I feel that when we start talking about pay per child we are confusing childminder's (where the parent is a client) and nannies (where the parent is the employer).

If I am on a project at work, and my department grows to take on addition people, I do not get a raise. But, the time I spend managing each one will of course be reduced.

Blondeshavemorefun · 01/02/2013 16:51

you should always discuss gross salary, esp as she has another job or you will be stung and you should know this as a tax adviser

mr a doesnt need to advertise his helpful site - he is well know

by all means give a raise, i always have had a payrise when no 2 or 3 comes along

i am very surprised that your nanny is happy to accept a pay decrease when your child goes to nursery, she will still be on call and not easy to find another job for 3hrs a day

Callthemidlife · 02/02/2013 12:21

Sounds as if nanny will only have two charges for an 8 mth period between feb and sept? If so then I would suggest that you simply pay her a bonus at the completion of this 8th period, and leave the underlying rate alone. She may be fine in theory with a pay cut but emotionally it may 'feel' depressing to see the salary drop, whereas a bonus at the end will have only positive connotations.

MarshmallowCupcake · 02/02/2013 20:52

I was about to say the same that callthemidwife said!
I'm a nanny and wouldn't be happy with a drop when child went to school. In fact in all my years that's never happened. If it felt like there was no other option, I'd possibly agree to the drop and then go job hunt. Better to keep wages the same and give a wee bonus for the time she has both kids.

HappyAsEyeAm · 04/02/2013 08:58

I have just returned to work after having our second baby. I have DS1 (5 yo in full time school) and DS2, 9 mo. Nanny has been with us for nearly 3 years. She works 3 days a week, 11 hours a day.

She has had an annual salary increase of 3.5-4% every year, Chistmas and birthday presents of £100 each every year, and annual bonus (discretionary) of about £350 per year. We also give at least a week more paid holiday than her contract says. I am sure we will keep this up this year.

She is paid £11.20 p/h now. We live within the M25 (Kent).

I have not increased her salary since I have gone back to work. I think she is a fantastic nanny, and we really value her - she is wonderful. But I think she is already pai the higher end for nannies in our area, and I would like to think that we are generous with bonuses and presents, and I would also like to think that we are good and caring employers - I wouldn't dream of doing anything along the lines of what some nannies post about on this site eg too cold in the house, micro-managing, arriving home from work late, not providing meals etc.

Iggly · 05/02/2013 17:25

If your eldest is ill and cant go to kinder who will look after her? If the nanny then not sure it's quite fair to drop her salary

We didn't increase our nanny's salary because we had another dc but we did increase it as we do every year.

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