Advice please re nanny & pay rise

[taliac]

Hi, could use some advice pls..

We have a great nanny, she's been with us for 6 months now. We've not had a contract so far, but she's indicated that she'd like to stay with us long term, which I think needs a formal contract.

One of the points that got raised when we discussed it was that she would want a pay rise at some point. This is the bit I need advice on. Not the pay rise itself, more how much and at what point? FYI - she earns £9ph for 4 days a week (1 child). We're hard pressed to afford that at the moment, but she is worth it, and I do believe in paying good people properly. But I don't want to bankrupt myself in the process!

Thoughts v appreciated!

To be honest, I would say that if you are anywhere outside of Greater London, £9 gross per hour for a nanny with some good experience and some qualifications, who is looking after only one child and has been with you for only 6 months, is a pretty decent wage in itself. It sounds like you have made your choice to honour her wish for a payrise and, in my experience as a nanny, it's usually done as a percentage.

I am in the South West of England and in my last nanny job (my first one), I started on £6ph gross, in June 2003 and finished there in March 2006 on £6.24ph gross. So I didn't do too well for payrises. Hehe. I got no rise in the first run of payrises in the business (cider farm) as I had only been there 6 months or so, but then I got a rise the next year and no more after that.

I would probably hold off giving a payrise until she's been there a year, unless you want to pay her a bonus for good work and for deciding to stay.

We're in London.. Thanks, a percentage is a good idea..

I expect a payrise after being in a job a year. It depends on whether £9ph is gross or net and tbh what other nannies are earning in your area of London as to whether she expects one now.

I agree with Nannyj.
I have in my contract with our nanny a yearly pay increase and I intend to link it to inflation.
I didn't get a pay rise this year but even if I had it would only have been 2 or 3 %.
Maybe work out what that would be on an annualised basis and it may sound better

Definitely get a contract sorted out - before you do anything about salary or increases!

Also, make sure that you talk about pay rises on a gross basis. In fact, it will make your life much easier from a tax poitn of view (calculating it, etc) if you do everything from a gross rather than a net point of view. (Apologies, you may already be doing this)

If you feel that you can't deliver a pay rise quite yet (and she has only been with you for 6 months) then why not give her a cash bonus, to reward the first 6 months and mark the start of the new contract? I know that my nanny always needed extra cash, and if you could manage £100 it is likely to be more appreciated than an extra 25p per hour, at least in the short term.

There are also other things to think about rather than just increasing the pay - e.g. a contribution to her mobile phone bill or gym membership, etc.

Actually it's against the law not to have some kind of written terms or agreement with her, a letter, a contract etc so a good idea to have one.

I agree with the gross point. Specify her gross pay and say an annual increase from the first anniversary of the original start date. You could say linked to the retail prices index or just say a pay rise once a year and then agree it at the time so that is she's been hopeless for a year you could encourage her to leave with a very low rise one year etc.

I would put in the contract that there will be a review at 12 months when the possibility of an annual pay rise will be considered. I would not guarantee a pay rise in the contract. But would consider giving one in similar percetage to terms to what I recieved from my work that year. (likely to be around 3 or 4 percent). And with the way the market is going an inflation based pay rise could well exceed that. So I wouldn't want to tie myself into anything I couldn't afford.

Thanks everyone, lots to think over..