What do nannies earn? And what do nanny employers earn?

[RubyrooUK]

Hello,

Forgive my ignorance. What is a nanny wage likely to be in north east London? And how much do parents using nannies earn?

We have a three year old and seven month old, currently in nursery. DH and I both have professional jobs and lots of people have expressed surprise that we don't have a nanny but we never really considered it as an affordable option.

Anyway, our nursery fees are now pretty hefty and although the 7 month old is very happy, the 3 year old prefers one-on-one time and his own home. So I'm just wondering if I should explore a nanny.

Any advice on average salaries? Or nanny employing parents willing to tell me their incomes so I can understand what proportion is normal to spend on childcare?

Many thanks in advance.

Your friends have probably expressed surprise because once you have two children it starts to be more economical/less of a jump to employ a nanny than use a nursery. The sheer logistics of getting several children out the door plus yourself to work too.
You would probably need to find £30k a year gross in London to employ an FT nanny and pay tax/NI/pension. It could be more, it could be slightly less but not much. A nanny share is also an option. You may find that someone returning to work when their child turns 1 is happy to enter into a share with a family of two children especially if the 3yo is in nursery for a few hours a day, and so the day won't revolve around activities for a pre-schooler.

What the parents earn is largely irrelevant - it's more about the disposable income they have after mortgage etc have gone out so it varies wildly.

Thanks so much everyone. You've been really helpful.

It's not so much my friends asking why I don't have a nanny, Oscar (none of them do either!) as people at work. Because DH and I work with people who are very well paid, I think they always assume our jobs are on their level of salary. That's sort of why I was asking about the nanny users' salaries. I am not sure our salaries can take a £35K hit!

Obviously nannies are people who deserve good wages for the very important job of looking after children, so I don't begrudge them a decent wage - especially as in London, money doesn't go far. But I will need to see if DH and I could possibly stretch to that...

Thanks again.

There are ways and means if you are willing to compromise. An experienced nanny with own child can actually have some advantages as well as working out cheaper. Or a nanny share?

£35K would be an experienced nanny - if you dont mind a younger/less exp then salary will reflect that and say at £10gross over a 50hr week at 944l tax code gross salary will be just over £26k plus employers ni so £28.5k

once nursery/school starts then a nanny is much less stressful, esp as you only have to get yourself up/dressed and ready and out of the house - the nanny will sort out your children :)

Mr A's fab calcultor helps you work out costs easily :)

Couldn't give gross costs earlier deliberately try to forget them.
But have now checked. Don't forget the utterly awful employers national insurance.
£500 net is close to £38,000 and £550 net is £42,000 cost to employer.
The employment taxes and no deduction against our own taxes make it pretty awful. I work largely for bonus (small) and pension as nanny wipes out my pay .
Off to put head back in sand ..

Also look into the act that employers will have to contribute to nannies pensions over the next few years ( depending on when you employ them). Think it's phasing in between 2015-2017

I live in your area and have a live in nanny. Cost to us inc employers national insurance is about 25-26k and we pay an on market rate for a relatively experienced nanny. There are additional costs such as high food and utility plus kitty/cost of activities. If you have the space and can face a live in it is much more cost effective solution than live out. And for that we get 7-7 child care available plus two midweek babysits if want them. We both work long hours with travel and nursery just wouldn't work for us.

To add we were going for live put until I realised how much cheaper live in was.

don't forget you can use two sets of childcare vouchers each for an Ofsted registered nanny (and it's not too onerous for a nanny to get registered). for the ages of your children, a nanny straight out of nursery will have the right training / experience and will be a couple of pounds an hour cheaper than a more experienced one (but will want a pay rise or new job in a couple of years!).
If you live in an area where a car is essential, the mileage thing really racks up costs.

Thanks again everyone. Don't think we could manage a live-in nanny, Polo. Our house is a small terrace and there isn't any extra space for a nanny to live with us. Also, I'm just not sure I can live with another adult who isn't my family (or is my family).

Lots to think about, thank you.

When we had 3 children under 4 and both worked full time it was definitely cheaper in outer London to have a daily nanny. If you are planning a third you probably would find a nanny cheaper and then you have someone to cover school holidays too for the older one once the older one is at school and to take it to nursery school and collect it. We found the main requirement was being sensible and capacity to love rather than qualifications and that certainly kept it cheaper too.

I have a nanny two days a week, 11 hours a day. Including all the tax, NI and about £50 a month mileage (she uses her own car) it comes in at just under £1300 per month. For that she gets £10 per hour net and 45p per mile. Not cheap!

Am in outer London BTW

I live in a very cheap area of the country. I pay 16000 gross per annum plus ni on top. We hired someone who had absolutely no experience as a nanny, she has only worked in a nursery before. We could do this as DH works from home 50% of the time so we could see what was going on. And she is absolutely lovely, the kids adore her.

My point is you could always hire someone who wants to start their nannying career and is there willing to start on a lower pay than very experienced Nannies.

My nanny takes my 4 year old to school and picks him up and has the 2 year old full time.

Definitely could not afford London prices!

Sorry, 17000 gross.

jelly is that for 5 days?

and i agree about younger/less experienced nannies

my first job 'coughs 22years ago' the family told me that they hired me as they couldnt afford the other more exp nanny that they wanted as had a 4mth baby, but i was happy there and stayed for 2 years till they moved and always said if it wasnt for them i wouldnt be where i am now, able to command a good salary and pick and chose famillies :)

and that baby is now a strapping almost 23yr and having a gap year round the world

Yes, it is for five days. We placed an ad on childcare.co.uk (can't afford agency prices!) and clearly stated in our ad that we were not looking for the right experience but the right attitude.

We interviewed about 8 people before we decided on our nanny. We got references from her previous job (nursery). She is absolutely wonderful with the kids and professional. And, as a bonus, she thinks it's way better tan her previous job as she has a lot more freedom to choose what she wants to do with her day

Just want to add, we are not exploiting her or anything! We are nice employers, she is always paid on time, gets gifts from us, will get a Christmas bonus, etc.

And she says she loves working for us, her exact words were, I can't believe I get paid to this everyday!

Jelly- is that not below min wage though? Obv depends on how many hours she does

If jellies nanny did 50hrs a week ie 10hrs a day then would be £6.52 gross so over nmw £6.31

So yes all legal :)

My salary 22years ago was just over £4.5k so a £1.64ph but didn't have min wage then lol

These days I earn a lot more a day then what I earnt over a week !!!!

She does 47.5 hours a week. So more than minimum wage definitely.

I know its low but its what we can afford. I earn 36k gross, not a huge amount. And then there is nanny mileage and expenses on top.

It is our choice to have a nanny but honestly, we would struggle to pay anymore. As it is, I can only do it as DH pays all other bills!

Will be giving her yearly pay rises though.

We are in NW London and have a live in nanny for our 3 year old twins because we need particularly long hours (7.30am to 7.30pm) and we are currently paying £350 net per week. This works out at £23k gross per annum and is a total cost to us including employer's NI of £25k per annum. On top of this we provide good quality, self contained accommodation with an ensuite bathroom, all meals and a car

I have paid up to £450 net per week (£30k gross per annum) but this is our current nanny's first permanent job and so I did not consider it unreasonable to pay at the lower end of the salary scale (she will be getting a rise in February).

Despite having a full time nanny, I still send our DDs to nursery every morning (which I also pay for) because I feel that they benefit from the social aspect and it gives them opportunities to do things independently of each other. In the afternoons the nanny takes them to ballet, football and swimming, all of which cost me more money, and she also has a range of memberships to farm / zoo / soft play which I pay for. I also give the nanny around £50 per week to consider incidential expenditure, petrol etc. I mention these things because employing a nanny does not just involve paying a salary.

DH and I are both high earners so we can cover these costs but I can see how difficult it must be for a lot of people to cover the cost of the childcare they need. I manage a number of young parents on very good salaries (£70k - £100k), most of whom work similar long hours to me, and I think it is a real struggle for them to cover the cost of the childcare they need.

jelly, dont worry about what you pay your nanny, its over nmw, and she is happy

as i said previously i earnt a tiny wage years ago, and i was happy with it as i gained exp and got an amazing ref

Thanks blondes! I always feel very guilty when I read the nanny threads and see how much people pay!

Everyone has to start somewhere jelly

I do earn a bloody good salary now and have done for past 7yrs or so - but I've earnt it as been a sole charge nanny for over 20yrs and have tons of baby exp - lot of twins exp and fab references sorry that sounds so big headed and dont mean to be