How much to offer for full time live in

[silverturtle]

London zone 3.
From 8 am to 7 pm, 5 days a week (with a 4 hour break as the youngest goes to pre-school). Live in, all expenses (travel, phone, food) paid for. Two children, one with SEN but attending mainstream.
Last nanny was on £2K net (£2.5K gross + benefits in kind on top), and left quite unexpectedly and not in a good way. I cannot seem to find anyone to replace her on a similar salary. Am I completely out of touch with the pay level?

Is that 2k a month?

Redken24
Yes, for a calendar month.

I would say 2k a month is on the low side.

You say with a 4 hour break but is that to do whatever they want or do they have duties?

Byebyebye
No other duties apart from childcare - if for any reason (sickness, holiday) the children had to stay at home, this was paid as overtime at £15 / hour. So certain flexibility was required (it was specified in the contract).
The issue with the previous nanny was that she found some local residential cleaning gigs during these breaks (not telling me about it), and I discovered that she was taking the children along with her, even when they were supposed to be ill at home. I was furious at her, she told me she felt underpaid and had to supplement her income, and after basically slammed the door.

It was her first job in the UK, and first experience of hiring a nanny for me, so I suppose I could have handled this much better, but here I am. Just don't want to repeat the experience.

This is what I expected the problem to be. You say they have a 4 hour break except if anything comes up their the ones that have to look after the children and cancel anything they have planned. Which means they can’t take on a job or class etc. You’re offering way to low of a wage to expect that kind of availability.

2k net with no living expenses is not a low wage!

I’m really surprised by the comments here.

Our live our nanny only gets £2400 net, and has to pay her own living costs, so I reall don’t think you are paying a low salary!

Byebyebye
I understand that it is a supply and demand question, that is why I am asking people in business what they'd expect to see advertised for such a position. With my previous nanny, I assumed that £30K a year is not a bad wage for someone without qualifications, with only basic English and with majority of living expenses paid for. She seemed to be very happy to get that, and has never asked for a pay review before she left, so it came as a surprise.

Perhaps you need to reframe it as a full time job, and not a break when the kids go to school. If people see it as a break, would be frustrating when they didn't get it.

Yes tbh I wouldn’t describe that time as a break - they can use that time to do Nursery duties (children’s laundry, tidy toys, cook children’s meals etc). That way it’s clear they are still on duty.