How to negotiate pay with potential nannies! (...not to mention make us seem attractive)

[dairymilkmonster]

We are new to trying to find a nanny. After about 10 promising people contacting me in the past few weeks , all to fall at the first hurdle due to logistical problems, I finally have someone coming for interview this week. She sounds great on paper but we will see.

This lady has lots of experience and qualifications - couldn't ask for more. She currently works as a nanny/housekeeper for a family who were only in the UK for 2 years and are moving home to the USA. She reports to earn £11.50 NET hourly (this is £14.00 gross per hour) - but does say this is negotiable. We are in the middle of southern England (ie not London) and typical rates round here are more like £10-12/hr gross according to my research and talking to some local nanny agencies.

How to approach discussing this? We can only afford up to max £12/hr. Any tips?

Also, any nannies out there, how can we make ourselves seem attractive?

Even if this lady doesn't work out any ideas will be helpful I am sure!
Thanks

It is great that you have done some research and that you know how much you can afford. If local market is around £10 net, then someone asking for £11.50 net is not going to be that attractive, unless they have a lot of experience and skills which other candidates do not have.

Could you tell them a salary range prior to interview, so you don't waste each others time.

If it is a full time job you can work out what a certain amount gross would be as net, though you would be making some assumptions such as that they have the full tax allowance.

UK Salary Calculator iphone app by Rhys Lewis is great for doing that and it will do it for next tax year which starts in April.

If you do decide to meet, then have with you other job listings which show salaries on offer locally. She may want £11.50 net but if that is not near market rate and if you can't afford it then it really is a non-starter.

£11.50 net, 50 hours per week, 1100L tax code, 2016/17 tax year, I make it £15.12 gross per hour. You then have employers NI and activity costs, mileage and misc expenses on top.

Work out your budget and be honest with applicants. If they want more than you can pay then is it really worth interviewing them? You can't magic money out of nowhere - if you can, do let us all know your secret

Where I live (so SE London commuter village) nanny/housekeeper rates are higher than just nanny rates, so average salary for nannies is £9/10 per hour and nanny housekeeper its £12/hr. net.

Is it for a full-time nanny job? If so, I'd meet her and you can always send an email afterwards explaining that really like her, but can't go above £12/gross.

Thank you! I think I will go with honesty about our budget. She is coming from a nanny/ housekeeper job 4 days per week - we are just a nanny job 3 days. Will see.

If she is saying that it's negotiable then she already knows that she'll be lucky to achieve that in the current market.

Offer what you can afford without resentment. There are other perks - she's not going to be cleaning the bathroom for one.

Can you offer longer paid leave than the standard 20 days (prorat'd for 3 days obv] depending on your leave patterns? I work with someone who does 3 days a week so she just takes most of her AL and has August off every year.

if you can only afford £12gross about £10 nett for 3 days then tell her that

then up to her if she attends interview

tho i earn about £13 gross for 3 days but happy to discuss a slightly lower wage iyswim if others things were right

def dont discuss nett as a 3 day job and she may get work elsewhere so you could be stung for a higher tax bill

southern england - would that be kent?