So what's the deal with pay for (unqualified) nannies in Central London

[mainlymayday]

In a previous discussion, someone said "take what the agencies say with a pinch of salt" so I'm looking for a realistic picture from those who have already employed a nanny.

The agency I'm talking to says to reckon on 400 - 420 pw net for a live out nanny which gives a gross sum of around 600 pw.

However, I'm probably going to end up finding someone myself through greatcare.co.uk rather than through an agency and most of the girls applying to me are unqualified (most have been from Romania, Czech Republic so far).

I'm just not sure what the real pay situation is when you are talking to someone unqualified (they mostly have a couple of years au pair or mothers help experience).

Can anyone give me a realistic picture of what you pay in London? Also, I'm not expecting to pay in cash but do these girls expect cash? And therefore no NI? I'm not wanting to do this especially but my Lithuanian cleaner wouldn't take anything but cash so I wonder if nanny employers have found the same.

PS the job is full time and sole charge of a six month old. Hours are prob 8.30 to 5.30.

thanks for any advice

the agency salary is about right, but I would ask Uwila for help with this one - she is really clued up on all the nanny stuff - I do know that if you employ a nanny then you are responsible for all the NI, tax etc deductions - again, there will be a difference in what you pay a nanny, au pair or mothers help - sorry I can't be more helpful, but maybe one of the other MNers will be able to help.

I know 2 live out nannies in London, both work in the Kensington area. One is British and earns £515 a week net but her hours are longer, 7-30 till 6-30. She has lots of years experience, she is 39 years old and hasn't got qualifications. Plus she gets a bonus of £1000 a year. The other one is from Brazil no qualifications and she earns £500 a week net but does some cleaning when the kids are at school so that puts her salary a bit higher.

From my experience it doesn't matter a great deal if you are qualified or not just as long as you have great references and experience. The trouble with nannying in London is, is that you need to earn a living wage. Which obviously puts nanny salaries on the higher scale. Although if you got maybe a kiwi or oz nanny they could stay for a couple of years but maybe could live on a bit less as they may not be concerned with saving because their aim might be travelling in their spare time. Personally i wouldn't except less than £450 a week, But i'm 32 and have 10 years experience so you could easily find someone younger. Salaries have really gone up in the last year and even live in nannies are making £350 a week.

Your job has very short hours for a nanny job, so I would expect the salary to be lower than average.
I have a qualified live out nanny and pay about 300 per week net (not sure exact amount as the contract states the gross annual salary). My nanny works 8-6. She has several friends who are nannys, most unqualified ones seem to be earning more like 200net per week (for 8-6 live out) so no where near the 400net that the agencies round here quote!
I would ask the applicants for your job what their expected salary would be and have an idea of the maximum you want to pay.