Nanny charging too low a rate?

[Smerlin]

I am currently arranging childcare for my first DD. I was looking either for a childminder or nanny share and advertised as such. I know the going rate for a sole charge nanny in my area (London suburb) and know I can't afford it but could afford a share.

However I have been approached by two nannies offering their services for £6.50/hour (net I presume). One is NWOC, sole charge, one is sort of a share but the share would be only for a couple of hours after school with sole charge of my DD during the day. Both over 8 years experience, not massively qualified otherwise I suppose.

Why do you think they are charging so little? I have received references from the NWOC which are excellent (not telephoned yet though).

I have never done this before so am I overlooking something obvious??

Make sure that they are happy to go with your choice of payroll company and that they are not looking for cash in hand or to underdeclare income for tax (as it is you as the employer who will have to pay the shortfall and risk heavy fines). I would look very carefully at their references.

NWOC would be lower but that seems very low. Does the experience check out?

Are they legally allowed to work in the UK? Maybe they don't want the income declared. So ask to see ID documents, as you would do for anyone you were going to employ.

Make it clear that you will be paying them a gross salary and thus need their national insurance number so that you can arrange for tax deductions.

Expect they will have no trouble providing such things, it may simply be that they are used to parents not offering that much salary for what they did in the past due to lack of qualifications.

Did you advertise the job stating the salary? If you did not, maybe that has put off some candidates leaving you with those who feel they need to accept a low amount to get the work for some reason.

Talk to them, talk to their references, perhaps something will become clear as to why they feel the need to accept a lower than usual salary.

I haven't checked up on anything yet- thought I would ask on here first before I waste anyone's time with an interview/checking references although I will call them if we decide to meet them.

I didn't state the salary- I said we can only afford a nanny share (which would be about £6.50/hr per parent where we live). I did this in good faith as I didn't want to waste the time of any nannies looking for a sole charge position!!

They are Ofsted reg for childcare vouchers (again need to see certificate) so must be legal?!

Maybe they know what a nanny share in your area gets roughly per family but they don't want to be a nanny for a share but do like the look of your job and can afford to earn what you are saying you can afford.

Maybe NWOC has struggled to find a job?

Maybe other nanny is thinking she might find a second share if she starts with you?

Has the afterschool share nanny been with her family a long time? I would imagine that she wants to stay with the family, but they can't afford to pay full price for the hours when their children are at school. Maybe they're paying a retainer and your 6.50 would be on top of that? Or maybe she wants to stay with her family, but also wants to keep her baby experience current. I've done that in the past. Would she be having the school age children in school holidays/if they're off sick?

The NWOC is possibly just finding it hard to find a job. Does she have more than one child?

OutragedfromLeeds- everything you have said is pretty accurate I think- after-school one doesn't want to lose her family but doesn't want to be bored during the day so maybe they are paying her a bit more.

NWOC does have two children, one in school though.

I feel really bad- I don't want to take advantage of anyone but I really worked out my budget for a nanny share so can't afford to pay any more!

How are you going to work out what a reasonable gross salary is to offer them? The 6.50 they want may be Net but what tax code would be used?

Would it be better if you came up with a gross figure you were happy with and offered that? Then they can decide if they want the job for that or not. If you offered 6.50 net the amount that would cost you could well vary, whereas you probably want to know how much it will cost you.

I think given the circumstances of the nannies 6.50 net is reasonable. Although as nannynick says, always agree and contract for a gross salary.

From what you've said I don't think there is anything 'dodgy' about the nannies. I think what they're asking is realistic given their circumstances. If the NWOC had only one child it would be different, but if she plans to have her two with your baby and take her on the school run etc. then 6.50 is reasonable. Same with the other nanny, if she has 2/3/4 other children holidays/after school 6.50 is completely reasonable.

I was just going to use an online calculator to calculate the gross? To be fair they didn't mention net or gross but I thought nannies normally talked net wages but employers calculated gross and both agreed to put that in the contract?

Thanks for the advice though - feel less anxious about it!

The problem with doing reverse calculation is that it can come out differently.

Example:
40 hours per week, 5 days per week, no student loan

Taxcode: 1000L
6.50 net = 7.47 gross

Taxcode: BR
6.50 net = 8.89 gross

Taxcode: 500L
6.50 net = 8.18 gross

If it was 6.50 gross, then you need to be careful about National Minimum Wage which will rise to 6.50 gross for those aged 21+ from October 2014. Source. So ok for now but may not be if NMW rises again.

Talk to them, find out if the 6.50 is what they want take home or if they do mean gross. If it is take home, then decide what you feel able to offer... 7.50, 8.00, more... and come to an agreement on the gross salary.

If they insist on having a set net wage then you will have to use a nanny payroll company. Talk to the payroll company before confirming with the nanny. I would not suggest you agree to paying a Net wage as you do not know for certain what their taxcode will be, especially if they have other work.

As others have mentioned, the NWOC with two children may well be finding it hard getting work as the job needs to fit around her own children's care. You will need to decide if having both the children coming to your home during school holidays would work for you, plus the daily travelling to/from school, or what arrangements you would be expecting the nanny to have for before/after school care of their eldest child.

It could work out well for you and for them, so think about the salary you will offer and all that may be involved given each applicants circumstances.

When I worked as a nanny doing a nannyshare I got total of £10 per hour net so £5 per hour net per family/child. I get the £10 per hour net working for one family too!

At some point I'd quite like a payrise- I've been on that wage for over 5 years now!

Ditto gnome. Been on same rate for 5yrs - TBh rare to be paid over £13 gross and I've got over 22yrs exp

Op - maybe nwoc has struggled to find work. Too many nannies assume and ask and always want £10nett hate discussing nett even if they are mid 20's and have say 7/8yrs exp

Personally I would employ nwoc as easier to deal with her rather then the other nanny and her other family for sickness / holiday etc - that's if you like the both and can't choose

I agree with Blondes. We have Nwoc and considered making it a Nanny share. Actually in practice the complexity of Nwoc is enough.