Live in Nanny Wages

[DestinyTheWhale]

Hi all,
We are looking to hire a full time live-in nanny for the first time, and I'd like to gauge a rough wage expectation? Gross cost please.
The nanny will have their own furnished bedroom with sky tv and wifi, a private en suite shower room.
We have 3 children, ages 8,2,1. Working hours roughly 7am-5.30pm which I think seem reasonable? Eldest at school full time, middle child at preschool 8-1 every day, baby at home all day.
Thanks in advance

Sorry I should of said, we live in Surrey

£21k-£26k+

My boss pays almost £32k, I do the same hours (although 8-6:30) but have been a nanny forever! SW London, just in zone 3!

£32k
Does that include babysitting a few nights a week Callaird? Because we probably won't need this, but maybe ad hoc once or twice a month
Does anybody else have any must-know tips for us as total newbies?

Have clear expectations, they are living in your home but you may not want them around all the time. Your home, your rules but be realistic, they may well go out and come back late at night.

Use a payroll company like NannyPaye or NannyTax. Try to reduce hassle of doing the admin. You will need to track your nannies holiday - they get at least 5.6 weeks paid holiday. Be clear about working hours and days, especially if you may need them to work on a bank holiday.

Pay a gross salary. You do not want to be paying back their student loan.

Salary is very variable. Calculate what you can afford to pay and then offer below that so you have room for future pay rises.

I have one night babysitting a week included but they rarely use it, it usually gets used when the trains/tube is running late or MB gets held up at work for 5/10 minutes. Never for an evening out!

If you don't need babysitting included (you are home on time every single night) then you could pay less and then pay an agreed babysitting rate if you need her to baby sit.

I would advise a 5/10 minute hand over both morning and evening, if you need to leave at 7am and nanny arrives at 7am, you'll be charging out of the door as soon as she arrives. Same at the end of the day, if nanny finishes at 6, she'll want to do her own thing at 6, not hang around for a chat about the children's day for 10 minutes. Also, if you are not going to be home on time, do not inform nanny at home time that you are going to be an hour late, if you need to leave work at 5:30 to be home by 6:15 so nanny can finish at 6:30 then let her know as soon as you know you are not going to get away on time and give her a rough eta and keep her posted. It's not like we can just leave at clock off time. This is a huge bone of contention for most nannies. As is not being paid on time! If you can get home early, let your nanny finish early! This will give you a nanny who will go the extra mile in regards to staying late if you let her go early occasionally. We are much more likely to be flexible if we feel respected.

Do not leave washing up on the side/in the sink and the dishwasher full whether clean or dirty, we are employed to look after your children, not clean/tidy up after our employers. Same as keeping the areas nanny and children use clean and tidy, if nanny leaves things clean and tidy at the end of the day/week, make sure it's left the same in the morning, especially Monday morning. However, you can expect nanny to leave the house as she found it in the morning.

Using the kitchen/family areas when she's not working - be clear about whether you are happy to come down for breakfast in her (decent) pyjamas and join you or if you'd rather she waited until you and the children had finished and tidied up (my charge is a little monster when he has more than one adult joining him for meals!) and the same for evening meals (I eat with my charge as my employers eat far too late for me) if you are happy for her to join you then let her know, if you'd rather have cooking/supper time for catching up with your other half then ask her to eat earlier. If you have a spare reception room/playroom you could put a tv in that would be nice for her. Going to your bedroom at 7pm is pretty sole destroying!

Re my wage - I have been a nanny for 30 years (in 4 weeks!) and I have amazing references. If you get a younger nanny with less experience you won't have to pay so much.

Thank you both so much for your responses, lots to think about. If it's not too cheeky, can I ask how you tend to spend your weekends Callaird? I think I'd probably wrongly assumed that Nanny would be out and about doing her own thing during her downtime, and so you've given me so good food for thought r.e the evenings and weekends. I certainly would not want our nanny to feel unwelcome in what will essentially become her home, but equally I am quite a private person, I wonder whether I should revert to my original plan of a live out Nanny

I do go out and meet friends at the weekend or go away for the weekend once a month or so. I come and go as I please, if I don't go out in the morning, I'll go to the kitchen and get breakfast after my charge and family have had theirs (but I like a lie in at the weekends so not a problem!). If I'm about for dinner I'll either prepare mine while my employers do bath and bedtime routine with my charge or they'll invite me to join them. MB is vey social and they go out a lot at the weekend and go away for the weekend a lot too, maybe 16+ weekends a year, so I have the house to myself all weekend which is very nice.

My employers are so easy going, this is my home and I can do pretty much what I like! I have friends over for movie nights or dinner if they are away. They trust me with their child so trust that I wouldn't have crazy parties or people I didn't know and trust round.

I've been here over 2 and a half years now, I'm part of the furniture! Today I was dragged out to look at the new house they are thinking of buying so I can give my opinion as it'll be my home too!!

If you like your privacy then it is all the more important to say that she can use the kitchen at x,y,z times at the weekend. I would, if you are not busy, invite her to join you for a takeaway and movie on a Friday every 3-4 weeks. More often if it turns out you enjoy her company! If I'm home they'll text to see if I want to join them for brunch (would be cruel not to if they are cooking bacon!) or if they are having a BBQ or Sunday lunch. Sometimes I take them up on it, sometimes I don't. I think most experienced live in nannies realise that our employers need some time on their own and will leave them to it. If you can fit an arm chair/small sofa, a coffee table and a decent tv with cable/satellite, maybe a kettle and small fridge and biscuit barrel/fruit bowl into their bedroom, it will make it more appealing for the nanny. (I don't drink tea or coffee but would hate a fridge in my room as the hum would drive me mad! So maybe check with the nanny you employ)

I wouldn't count out a live in nanny, just ask plenty of questions about how they'd see weekends working out. Make sure they are compatible with you and your family. Which is want you want in a nanny anyway!

I don't think 32k is that much for 52.5h/week. That's barely about £11-12/gross and works out at £9/h net - I'd say that's below market rate in London. I would imagine that to get a decent nanny with some qualifications and experience in Surrey, it will be about that, though. Perhaps marginally cheaper. At 25k a year, the weekly net amount would be £390 - not sure that nannies would find it attractive for 52.5h/week.

One thing to bear in mind is that a live out nanny will get paid only a bit less than a live out one. As any other person, she might want to lounge around, watch TV or invite friends or boyfriend sometimes etc. If you're very restrictive about it, she probably won't be very happy. If you haven't got a separate annex and would prefer the nanny not to be there on her days off, then you should really consider a live out arrangement. It'll be a little more expensive but you'll save a bit on bills and food.

The two people I know in Beaconsfield (similar area to you) live in nannies pay £300/month. Although both have a separate flat for their nannies.

If you go onto nanny job and type in your area, you'll get a better idea of local salaries, they will be less than London. It's normal to add two nights of babysitting, but not on a day off, some nannies are asked to work Saturday morning as well.

I would really insist that your nanny empty and pack the dishwasher and empty the bin, we had one that wouldn't and it drive me mad (in fact I mentioned in a reference it annoyed me so much!)

Remember you are the employer and if you would like someone to leave a particular room free at the weekend say so. Nannies are not au pairs and are not expected to be part of a family as part of their employment status. Most of the live in nannies I know of, eat with the children.

As the poster above said it's really important for you both to be compatible.

Under -£300 a month for a full time nanny? That's slave labour

Under - why should nanny empty and load dishwasher? She's a childcarer, a nanny should only be loading and unloading what she has created that day whilst working with your children, not all your stuff. That's a cleaner or a housekeeper

Maybe she meant £300 per week? My friend in London pays £250 a week net for a live-in nanny/housekeeper I think.

I'd have said more like 36-42k. Depending on experience

Our old nanny had 2 nights term time babysitting built into contract (one in hols) but not always used.

hearts that is very low

You can deduct a little bit (£40?) for living in, so at living wage you'd still need to pay £320+ gross for 50 hours.

I must be wrong then!

I did mean £300/week!

Art - I can't remember if you're a child carer or parent, our dishwasher usually goes on after breakfast, so will be ready for emptying a couple of hours last thing I wanted to do after coming in late from work was coming in to find a stinky bin and a full dishwasher. I also found that because she was then washing dishes by hand, she broke plates etc more regularly.

Apart from that nanny, I never had problems with subsequent nannies not wanting to do it...I just made clear that it was expected, along with keeping the house as she found it and general nursery duties.

Wow - salaries in Surrey on nanny job (for a full-time live in nanny) are £350- £800npw - although they do want a nanny/butler for the £800npw - interesting combination of roles!

OP - I also know a couple of people who have a live-out nanny plus an au pair. That may be a better option if you sometimes need someone later in the evenings.

Just out of curiosity, how many children and what ages are nannies usually looking after.

I was a nanny/housemanager five years ago in Surrey and I was live in and getting $500/week net. I worked 7-7 (during the height of the GFC I was doing 7-10pm) and had four school aged charges.

Under - I am a parent. We have a part time nanny, and a cleaner. If our nanny cooked and needed dishwasher she would empty, but I wouldn't expect her to do that. We pay £15 an hour

OP have you considered a live out nanny? The costs are virtually the same by the time you add on nanny living in your home costs i.e. All meals, extra heating, water, electric, and lack of guest room and privacy. I would be tempted to look for a full time live out nanny, and you could reduce costs by less hours if possible.

Is there any way you or partner can start work later or work from home one morning or day for example? Or one of you in work earlier and back earlier and vis versa. Every hour less would reduce costs, so even 5 hours less a week would make a difference.

When I started my job there were two children under age 4. Since then the family had another child and as I have been there a long time, they now range in age from 6 to 12.

Stacking dishwasher, children's laundry and bedding are duties of many nannies. Duties should be discussed prior to the job being agreed and should be reviewed on a regular basis. As children get older the job often changes to being more of a nanny/housekeeper role.

5.6 weeks paid holiday?!!

How's that? I was a nanny for 20 years and thought the most you could legally get was two weeks.

In the UK, all employees get 5.6 weeks paid which can include bank holidays (eg. 4 weeks plus BHs).