we've had our nanny for 2 years - in this time her net hourly rate has gone up a lot - started at £6 is now £7.88 (which is a gross hourly rate of £9.89). This equates roughly to a 31 per cent increase over 2 years. However the increase has come by decreasing her hours whilst keeping her total pay the same. She is due an annual pay rise - this time no intent of reducing her hours. But I am really trying to stop it pushing me over into the realms of paying to go to work (well, if truth be known, I do end up paying, but not much and I don;t want it to get more). a 3 per cent increase would be do-able from my pov - but does that seem incredibly mean? for 2.5 days a week her net increase would be £300 a year (gross increase of £441). is that really mean?