Please help me give my husband an objective view of childcare costs in London

[nevereverhaveiever]

We have a DD who is 1 year old and we live in central London. We want to get childcare in our house for her for 3-4 days a week for four hours each day.

I think that childcarers would expect at LEAST £10 per hour for their time, but husband is asking me to find someone who will charge less than that. Who is correct? I will show him this thread.

You are. Four hours each day in Central London? You might even have to pay more as after school nannies for a few days are hard to find.

We have an excellent nanny who costs about £10.20 an hour.
Hope that helps.

You are right. For a 1 year old you need someone with baby experience and that costs more. Are you talking net or gross? Most nannies work in net, but for your total costs you need to work out gross. I would think you would have to pay around £12 per hour gross at least to get someone.
Have a look here: www.nannytax.co.uk/images/PDFs/NT-2014_WSAR_V1.pdf

Remember as well as the hourly fee there will be additional costs such as the kitty, extra heating/food at home.

I pay my cleaner £10ph. And he wants to pay someone less to look after his only child?

Does he want childcare (a joe random) or a nanny? You would be lucky to get a nanny at all for such few hours but looking at at least £15 gross in zone 1

Your DH is dreaming. Firstly normal hourly rates in central London are between £12-£15 gross, and on top of that you want a very part time position (4 hours a day means they can't get another job to make up the difference).

You dont mention whether you work - will it be sole care or shared care ie will you be there? If shared care then it would be mothers help not nanny and may be around £10 per hour.

You would be lucky to find someone willing to do short hours for just £10 an hour - usually that rate is for fulltime hours 40+ hours a week.

Mimishimmi and others makes a good point OP. My nanny is £10.20 an hour but that is for a full 40 hour week. Expenses/kitty and other bits and bobs brings the total outlay a little bit higher than that.
Also, we are zone 6 btw rather than zone 1 central London so maybe not comparable to your situation.

Around £13ph gross is average for a full day work. But my agencies offer part time
Jobs for around £13-15 net ph to make
It worth it. Can you maybe swap it around to make it a few full days a week will
Definitely get more interest when you advertised.

We pay £12/hr gross in zone 3. I really wouldn't dream of leaving a child so young with someone willing to take a cut rate. There will be a reason they are willing to take substantially less than the going rate. Try for someone who is ofsted registered so you can use childcare vouchers.

but husband is asking me to find someone who will charge less than that. If that's what he wants, why isn't he looking for the carer? Perhaps if he actually did some research instead of demanding that you find a cut-price carer, he would realise how difficult it is and that, as someone already said, if a carer is charging less than the market rate there is a good reason for that and it is usually lack of experience!

You could get a childminder for a little less, but it wouldn't be in your home.
Or you may be able to get a nanny within school hours who brings her own child with her for slightly less.

I'm just outside zone 6 and a school hours, new nanny with her own child was still just over 11/hour gross - plus as the others said, about 80/month in petrol, and another 10 or so a week in the kitty. More experienced nannies wanted 10+ takehome.

and for a 1 year old, an au pair isn't really recommended (if you even have the space for that).

If you want to pay less, it'll have to be a childminder, but those are short hours, so you'll have to be lucky to find one who'll do it.

You will be lucky to find someone willing to take on those hours regardless of what you pay... Childcare is expensive. For a full timer you would expect to pay around £12 gross an hour. I wouldn't pay a higher rate for fewer hours...
Your husband is in for a rude shock.

What you need to tell your husband is that live out nanny have to live close to where you are . So you live in area with high living cost so will nanny and she has pay her bills too. So she has earn a decent wage. If the nanny live in you can pay less but you will have meet her living costs

If it's morning's you might be lucky to find someone who can double up as an after school nanny with a second job. You would need to commit to 4x4hrs though I suspect and school holidays would be tricky.

You could look for a nanny share where a family have young children starting school and the nanny is to some extent "free" in the mornings. During school holidays though your child would go to their house in all likelihood.

In both those scenarios you might get someone for £10 an hour but you will have tax and NI on top of that.

£10 per hour [cash in hand] is rock bottom for London unless you are happy to hand over a non verbal child to someone who has recently arrived, may have poor English and certainly very little in the way of childcare experience. If you are lucky enough to secure someone good at this rate they will move on as soon as they get a better offer. London is an expensive place to live for everyone.

Basically, paying the lowest rate gives you the poorest choice of hours available, people with one leg out the door already, and little motivation.

If he's really not listening. Then advertise the job and show him the responses

"I really enjoy working with children and have lots of experience babysitting my sisters / aunts/ randomers children in my home country [so no references or CRB check]. My dream is to become a popstar/head chef/actress so I am looking for a job that will fit around auditions"

One final thing - if this is so that YOU can go back to work, then unless he is willing to step up and share the load when said childcarer calls in sick/disappears off home with no notice then tell your DH to do one. You need reliable childcare if you are going to have any credibility at work.

Either way he needs to step up in those circumstances but a properly paid professional will be much less likely to be flakey in their attendance.

I'm sure he can find something ready to work for less than £10/net per hour. He will just have to ask himself what reason would that person have to accept such a low salary. But eh, who cares about your daughter's safety and well being when you could save 1 or 2 pounds per hours, right?

These people have been trying to fill a similar role for nearly 3 years it would appear
www.gumtree.com/p/live-out-nanny-babysitting-jobs/part-time-nanny-job-in-notting-hill/1141799379

We pay £11 an hour net for our experienced and great nanny in Zone 2.

You really can't pay less than £10 an hour net and of course must pay tax on top of that.

If the 4 hours a day are non-negotiable, I would go for a childminder. I just don't think you'll get a real nanny for those few hours.

Why has he asked you to find someone? if he thinks it's possible then he should investigate.

I would think more in terms of annual costs tbh: nannies are £££, once PAYE etc is counted.

Contact your local nanny agency with your equity and get an emailed response to show him a rough idea of figures.
You could possibly find someone willing to be paid less than £10ph but it would be quite hard imo. Probably someone who is new to childcare and needs to gain experience, nanny share, nanny with own child or childminder! I work as a nanny one day per week and receive £12.50 per hour net. If I were offered a job with the same days and hours as yours I would expect no less than what I am currently paid per hour as it just wouldn't be worth my while otherwise.

Enquiry not equity! Predictive text!!!