reasonable rate for after-school nanny-share (SE London)?

[RiverTam]

we've potentially got a nanny-share lined up for after school when DD starts reception in September. It's with a family of 2 boys already at the school. They are paying £10 a hour for both boys and the nanny has asked us for £10 a hour for DD.

This seems quite high to me - is it? The other family host and we will 'pay' them for food via a bottle of wine a week or so. The set-up is very good in many ways (and at the mo we have no other options) but I am worried about being fleeced!

I am meeting with the nanny this week so I want to get some idea about what a reasonable rate is. We also want to offer her holiday childcare (which she doesn't have from the existing family as they don't need holiday care), which she seemed keen on, so again, it would be good to know what a reasoanble day rate would be for that.

Any input from either nannies or employers of nannies would be gratefully received - I am all at sea with this!

So does she want £20 an hour when she has the three children?!? £10 an hour is about right for a nanny in London, and if that's gross then that is very reasonable in your area.
But I think nanny shares are normally a around £15p/h - someone will know more about this than me but the idea is to save both families money - you would both be paying £7.50 rather than £10 IYSWIM.

For the holidays when she just has your child, £10p/h would be about right.

that's what I thought - for 3 school-age children it seems an awful lot, but reasonable for one-to-one care.

Can I go in and negotiate with her? We really do need to get someone, and someone who can do school hols as well, I feel a bit rock and a hard place!

I think both you and a parent from the other family need to have a meeting with the nanny altogether and pitch the idea of what you need. Then offer her the nanny-share amount for the three children, and a separate amount for the holiday care.

Then work out what each family will pay hourly each in your own time - the nanny doesn't really need to know that, she just needs to know how much she will get! The nanny share is obviously going to change the current family's routine so it's only fair their costs go down to reflect that. Otherwise you may as well both have your own nannies!

That sounds high to me. I'd have thought £15/hr for nanny would be a fair to generous recognition of the fact that one more child is going to be a bit more work, but if you split it equally with the other family that would recompense them for the fact that they are hosting and feeding your DD, possibly paying for odd bits and pieces like craft bits, but still paying a bit less than they do at the moment. £10/hr is also a bit steep for school holiday care for one child - could you not find a holiday club or childminder, or someone else to nanny share with in holidays?

well, they are doing a nanny-share at the moment with another family of 2 DC, who are paying £10 for their 2. That family is moving out of the area. So at the moment the nanny is getting £20 per hour to look after 4 DC.

I would love to get a CM but haven't had any luck, and I don't know of anyone else to nanny share with. Holiday clubs don't cover our working hours (8-6) plus I think right now DD is a bit little.

thank you both for your posts.

£20 an hour... Wow, just wow!!!!

A nanny share is £12 net an hour in SE London

A nanny for one family is £10 net an hour!!!!

I would think £15 an hour (so £5 from you) would be fairer if the other family are only going to be paying £10. I don't think £20 an hour is so shocking if she was getting an extra two children but she's not. Childminders generally charge more than £5 per hour per child in expensive areas.

well, I got her down to £8 and she is looking for another child which would bring it down to £5.

Unfortunately, it's an existing nanny share and I don't really know the original family (who have had this nanny since their eldest was a baby) - only met them for the first time on Saturday, so I'm not sure how much I can do, it sounds like they could have been overpaying her for years, but I feel I can hardly point that out!

We might just go with this for the first term and keep looking.

She can only do a nanny share with 2 families. If she introduces a 3rd family then legally it is considered childminding and she would need to register as a childminder - even though it is from her employers home and not her own.

really? That's interesting, I didn't know that - it has just been with 2 families (2 DC in each) up to now. I wonder if she knows that?

Also, do we have to register as another employer of hers? She seemed to suggest that we would if we wanted to use childcare vouchers, but if not that was fine not to (the original family are registered as her employer).

It's possible she doesn't know about the nanny share rules. If you search for the bapn nanny share guide you'll find the info on there.

I'm not sure about the vouchers, hopefully someone can answer this for you.

hmm, the nannytax website describes a nanny share as being a nanny shared between 2 or more families, so I guess it must be ok?

the whole thing is making my head spin!

Costs people are saying on this thread - are they net or gross? The £8/£10 I'm quoting are net.