How much do you pay your Nanny in London?

[Garfield1978]

Hi,
I'm looking for a nanny to look after my 7 month and 3 year old boys. I went to a local nanny agency and the costs were huge! I was wondering how others went about finding nannies, how much you pay your nanny (net and gross) and what you do about holidays etc.. for your nanny.
Really looking forward to hearing all your thoughts!

You should be able to talk yo the agency about what dates are appropriate for your area without necessarily using them to find your nanny. Should always discuss gross in contracts but nannies often think in terms of net, so you'll need to convert backwards and forwards a bit. Holidays are often that you choose 2 weeks of nanny's holiday and they choose 2 weeks.

I found our nanny using a local forum (her previous employer posted a recomendation). If you can possibly find someone through a personal recommendation that is best but it's not easy.

I think 10/hr net is usual for London, not sure what that is gross (use a net to gross calculator online). Always agree a gross rate (even if you discuss net initially) as otherwise you have to recalculate the amount you pay overall every time her tax code changes/tax bands change etc. Ours is paid slightly less but I am intending a pay rise later this year as she is great.

It's usual to provide lunch for nanny (and possibly breakfast/dinner depending on their hours) and to provide a kitty for playgroups, activities, occasional cafe visits etc so factor that in if budget is tight, also factor in cost of heating on all day.

Holidays - she gets 4 weeks (=16 days as she works four days a week for us) plus all bank hols paid. This is the legal minimum I think. (in practice we have given her a few days more than this). She chooses half and we choose half, which is standard practice. (though in practice she has been happy to fit in with us, bless her).

We use a payroll company to tell us how much to pay her and how much to pay to HMRC. They also do the payslips (legal requirement). They are also helpful in converting net to gross and vice versa.

Normally is £10 net, so that's after tax and insurance...

So normally around £12 gross