nanny payrise

[wizzywig]

Me again. Help, i have no idea if i am being unreasonable or my nanny is. Its a lomg post too.
I have a nanny who has no childcare qualifications but after a year and a half is doing a reasonable job. She is paid an average hourly rate. She lives though in a wealthy area where she could earn a lot more. She has had a lot (and i mean a lot) of time off sick and she works the set hours she wants to. When we needed more hours we took on another nanny (in addition to her). She has said she now wants a 50% per hour net pay rise as that is what she could get were she to work where she lives.
Ive told her I cant afford it, that she would be earning more than me. That if i were to pay her the increase id expect her to fulfill her duties as per her contract. This would mean having all my kids in the school hols (one of them with severe sen goes to a childminder full time in school hols) and doing the kids laundry and their ironning.

Out of the blue ive been contacted by a nanny who is happy wity what i pay, can look after all kids, has their level 3, ofsted and has many years experience with sen. Ill wait and see what my nanny says. I dont know if when you are turned down for a payrise, do most people stick around?

What do you pay her p.hr? Are you in or out of London?

How old are you children and what are her hours?

A little more clarity will help. I've both been on both sides (working and hiring) so can help you make sense of the situation.

Why do you pay her by the hour? Nannies usually get paid by the week.

I always used to have an appraisal and an annual wage rise. Did you do that once she'd been with you a year or has this just come out of the blue?

I would expect her to go if she's asked and you turned her down tbh.

I do think you need to take into consideration the rates local nannies will be paid.

worried that she looks on this website!!
ok, local nannies are paid probably min wage up to £9 p/h gross. this includes experienced nanny's. I pay £8 p/h. the other existing nanny plus the one interested in working for me is happy with £8 p/h. The nanny who wants a pay rise lives in a place that is very commutable into london (think surrey), so she is wanting £12 p/h net in line with what she thinks nanny's there earn.
I am not in london, have three kids 10 years and under. she does 3-8pm two days a week. in the past, when we have asked her if she wants to up her hours she has said no (which is why we took on another nanny). also no to any weekend work. which i totally respect. I learnt early on that if she any more than her 10 hours she would go off sick and then i wouldn't see her for at least a week. So yes i could increase her pay rate to what she wants but then i would take my youngest out of the childminders in the school hols so she has all three kids, insist she does their laundry, tidying up after them etc etc.

sorry i forgot to add that i did say i could increase the number of hours she works in the school hols but not the hourly rate as then she would be getting paid the same as i do. i work part time and study part time so when i need to study i do so at home and based on past experience, she cannot keep the kids from constantly disturbing me. it gets to the point where i am moving my laptop into different rooms depending upon where the kids are.

Payrises are tricky. Inflation may get to 4% this coming year, what happens is anyone's guess. If you felt they were worthy of a rise, you might offer somewhere between 5% and 20% depending on what you can afford and feel is suitable. I doubt any nannies are getting rises above 20% (though this is typically the point at which lots of nannies will now post saying they are getting huge rises )

She has said she now wants a 50% per hour net pay rise as that is what she could get were she to work where she lives.

Perhaps she should resign and get that high paid job near to home. She can give notice any time she likes and by the sound of it if she did do that then you have a possible replacement ready to interview.

So even though you have a nanny you still have to pay for a second nanny and a childminder in school holidays?! And she is often off sick?! That's crazy. The whole point of a nanny is having consistent, reliable, home based childcare. I would consider finding a nanny who can have all of your children for all of the hours you need.

i know, i know cleverquacks. as i was writing this i thought "god im such a pushover". i was desperate for help. as she has no knowledge of childcare she said she couldnt look after all three, thats why i took him to a childminder. he is happy there and never takes time off except for holidays.

I think £12 is reasonable ,I was earning more than that over ten years ago ( I was in London) BUT I didn't go sick and I didn't have a back up Nanny and child minder to help, that's ridiculous!

Actually I've just re read the OP and seen she's not experienced or qualified so no, I wouldn't be paying 12 quid an hour!

So she is more of an after-school childminder rather than a proper 7am-7pm nanny looking after babies and pre-schoolers. £12 an hour is ridiculous and I'd tell her to bugger off and find work where she lives then, given she's so confident the pay and conditions are better there.

Hire your other nanny at £8 or find an experienced nanny through an agency. I think you might struggle with an agency though as full-time qualified nannies are expecting the 7-7 sole charge work for £500+ a week. But there may be some looking for afternoon/evening work.

Good luck!

If she has no qualifications I would wait for her to get them before increasing her salary.
She also sounds unreliable. No a no from me.

thank you all. i do feel uncomfortable with the whole situation as i now know that she wants more than i can give her.
Kennington, she isnt interested in getting childcare qualifications.

50% pay rise is massive. If she wants to get surrey/London rates, she can work in Surrey.

And never agree to net!

yonic she said she wanted £12 p/h and i asked "do you mean £12 p/h in your pocket". should i not have done that? i was googling what £12 p/h net in gross would be, couldnt find an answer so just assumed it would be £14 p/h gross.

It could be BR tax code and be £15 gross. listentotaxman.com/150?code=BR&time=52

Really really bad would be a D0 tax code. listentotaxman.com/211.24?code=D0&time=52

Her tax is not your responsibility. You pay her a gross rate and she needs to sort out what that means in her pocket, not you

With a 2 day job, you could gross up based on the assumption that they would get 40% of personal tax allowance allocated to this job. If they then asked HMRC to do that, then they would get the net pay they desire but if HMRC decide to do something different, due to agreeing a gross figure, your cost does not change.

As you already employ them, you know their current tax code. Problem with net pay is that if that tax code changes, your cost changes - for better or worse.

i actually never asked her if she had a student loan. im assuming that the payroll company would know

The payroll provider would be told about a student loan if deductions had to be made. Then there is also pension contributions (though that may not apply for you yet, or your nanny may not qualify (such as due to age).

There are various things that can affect your cost as the employer when you agree to pay a net wage.

You are not alone though, around 45% of nannies are paid a net wage. More parents are opting for gross salaries but it has yet to become the norm. I have been trying to get nannies to adopt gross pay for many years and it has helped a bit.

If you decide to give your nanny a pay rise, you could also suggest changing to gross pay and talk to your payroll provider about how such a change could be made.

So you pay £8gross. Average in your are is £9gross

And she's wants £12nett?

Tell her to go and find a job paying That !!!

You pay her and a cm at same time

Plus Another nanny extra hours

Sometimes a higher rate is paid for after school care as less hours

12nph is high even for London I think. I am near Islington and pay 11nph and had plenty of interest at that level (this is people with full qualifications and 5-10 years experience). 12nph would be for somebody with 10 years + experience I would have thought. Also this is for pretty long days (50 hour week) so quite intense compared with what your nanny is doing (although I take the point that after school only can be higher pay per hour). For jobs in central London she'd also be looking at commuting costs/time/stress on top.

Sounds like if she thinks she can get that then you would both be better off for her to go for it.

thanks lighttripper

Do you pay her when she's off sick?

hi ebb yes i do. and i hate myself for doing it sometimes.