What do you pay your nanny?

[Alanna1]

And how did you figure out the gross salary? Did you break it down to a per hour or? Help!

Nannies are generally paid an hourly rate. ALWAYS agree gross. If you have a net figure and want to work out the gross you can use MrAnchovy's calculator here.

Thanks. And how do i calculate the going rate (London, zone 2)? I've asked a few friends but it seems variable.

Live in or out? Nanny tax does a salary survey I think

Somewhere between £10 and £13 gross an hour - depends on experience, qualifications, what the job entails, what the employer can afford.

To get an idea of average salary look at jobs advertised in your area. You can do this on agency websites, childcare.co.uk, nannyjob.co.uk etc.

In London the going rate is around £11-12ph gross. Less for someone with few qualifications and/or little experience. More for someone very qualified and/or lots of experience.

Wages Survey 2012 results and the 2013 survey is currently in progress (nannies and parents can submit information, see links on www.nannytax.co.uk).

Look at job ads, see what others are offering.

However I feel the important this is how much can you afford to pay? No point offering £12 gross per hour if you can only afford to pay £9 gross. You need to work out as many of the costs as possible so you know what it will cost you at different salarys. Then having looked at other jobs in the area (childcare and non-childcare) you may get a feel for what other things the applicants could apply to do. Then look at the job you are offering, how much of a hassle is it, are the hours such that people will want the job or do you need early start, late finish, not many hours per day, variable start/finish times, variable days, just consider what sort of person it would appeal to and try to see things from their point of view - is the salary on offer enough to find the right applicant?

If you are not in a hurry you could experiment by advertising at one salary, see what applicants you get and then relist/modify the ad with a new salary and see if that gets more suitable candidates.

Thanks everyone. We're still crunching our numbers but DH and I both have very demanding jobs and we're struggling with nursery x5. So looking for a nanny x2 days. The comparative cost is not so great vis-a-vis nursery, but our finances generally are strained with two kids in London childcare (grin and bear it) that I want to pay what's fair and no more.

I'm in London zone 2 and pay £11.50/hr gross (roughly equiv to £9/hr net). However most very experienced nannies seem to want £10/hr net which is more like £13/hr gross.

Rate depends on experience but I think it also depends on how attractive a job you are offering - eg full time is generally attractive, after school positions not so attractive as it's hard for the nanny to get up to full time hours that way iyswim. Your two days will be more attractive if you can be flexible about which days, to fit with a nanny who already has a three day position.

Avoid using an agency if you possibly can as it will cost you £1000s extra. We used a local online forum site.

Don't forget hidden costs which don't apply to nurseries - eg heating your home, nanny's food, paying for nanny to do activities with child, etc. on the other hand nannies will look after sick children unlike nurseries!

Nannyshares are very very common and could be a v good option for you. going rate seems to be that each family pays about £6 net (not sure what that is gross). Obviously you would need to find a compatible family and make various compromises though.

Childminder could be an option? Bit more flexible than nursery I believe (ie you might find one willing to do longer hours) for a similar cost.

Oh and I used a reverse tax calculator to figure out a gross hourly rate from a net hourly rate. Warning, the calculators assume you are the only employer. If you are one of two or more employers the net to gross is totally different. Even more important to agree a gross wage in these circs.

Reverse tax calculator relies on knowing the correct taxcode, so it is useful as a guide for getting the initial gross salary figurer agreed.

Try using code BR, that will make a big difference compared to using 944L. Net to gross should not be done for payroll runs - if you do need to, use a payroll service who has software to do full calculations taking account of things like pay to date.