How much should I pay for a nanny or childminder?

[lewy]

Can someone give me an idea how much an hour I would expect to pay for a childminder and how much per hour for a nanny in surrey and what the advantages and disadvantages are to both.... need advice..help!

you need to ring your local childcare plus for that info as all cm's charge set their own rates.
someone may be local on here, but quick and accurate answer would be got by ringing them.HTH

go on this - put postcode in and will list childminders and rates but not nannies

Live out per hour for a nanny between £7 and £10. That's net.

Advantages of a nanny
-built in flexibility
-pay the same regardless of number of children you have
-more control over what activities your children do
-in home childcare already in place if your child is ill
-potential for a built in babysitter, subject to negotiation in contract

Disadvantages
-you are responsible for paying tax/NI (although there are companies which will do this for you
-wear and tear on your home
-if live-in will have to give up your spare room and cope with a stranger living in your house
-if expecting nanny to use your car will cost you money on car insurance
-your children may not have the opportunity to mix with others
-you have to cover if your nanny is sick
-not compulsory for nannies to be registered so need to be VERY careful when carrying out pre-employment checks

Advantages of a CM

-registered with OFSTED and regulated by them
-your children have a chance to mix with others
-no wear and tear on your home
-CM is likely to continue caring for your children when they go to school, a nanny may want to leave to find another FT job
-CM is self-employed so no worry about tax/NI

Disadvantages of a CM

-if your carer is ill, then you need to find alternative care
-most offer set hours of care so no flexibility

If it helps, as a nanny working in Surrey, if I take my salary and multiply it out to cover a whole year, then I would be on just under £19,000 gross. I work 50 hours per week which is probably typical or even a little low on hours of a typical nanny working week. Roughly it is £7.25 gross per hour, if you want a hourly figure - Family has 4 children. Childminders in my area typically charge £4-£5 per hour, per child. Thus you can see that for a family with 4 children, a nanny is cheaper than a childminder - but that would not be the case if the family only had 1 child.

As a nanny, as of yesterday (as my certificate arrived in the post), I am now registered and regulated by Ofsted. So that difference between childminders and nannies is no longer valid (sorry franklin ) though in the vast majority of cases, it would still be valid as there are few nannies registered with Ofsted. Should you be wondering why I am registered with Ofsted, it is to enable my employer to pay using Childcare Vouchers, which is another advantage of using any form of Approved Childcare - such as Childminder or approved nanny/home childcarer.

As a nanny currently registered with OFSTED I'm very aware of that (IMO important) difference.

As you'll note I said it's not compulsory. Anyone can call themselves a nanny, not anyone can call themselves a childminder. Of course the OP could specify the nanny must be approved which would remove that disadvantage.

In an ideal world all nannies would be required to be qualified and registered but we're not quite there yet. And the sooner we are there the better the industry will be regarded.

Quite agree frannikin... far better if there was a greater distinction between a Nanny and other forms of in-home childcare. I would support all nannies being registered, which may happen at some point in the future, though alas Childcare Act 2006 didn't quite go that far to making it a requirement.

Out of interest, were you registered with SureStart previously? I was for 2 years, not renewed it under Ofsted. Oh joy... wonder if they will change things again in a few years time, expect so

I was indeed. I'm actually a fan of the OFSTED registration as I thought the SureStart one didn't go far enough - now we have to have insurance and a 12 hour 1st Aid course which wasn't compulsory before.

I hope they won't change it in a few years! I only just navigated my way through OFSTED (I'm convinced it was some kind of aptitude test ) and it make sense for us to be regulated by the same body as childminders, although I'll be watching very carefully to see how that regulation works in practice. I know parents can complain to OFSTED, but can random members of the public complain in the same way that they can against childminders? Are we going to be inspected on a regular basis? Are we going to get lumped with the amount of paperwork childminders have?! Are we going to be forced to implement Birth to 3 (or Birth to 5)?

Questions, questions....

Perhaps we should start another thread to debate those many questions

In my previous message, I wrote:
"not renewed it under Ofsted"
This should have read
"now renewed it under Ofsted"

hi lewy, im a c/m in the wimbledon area, and charge £4.00 ph f/t and £4.50 p/t. i cant really tell you what would be better for you, c/m or nanny, but all the c/m i know do a fantastic job! good luck.

lololo - as a childminder how much would it be for two children?

hi lewy, i would do a discount for siblings, infact i get alot of families. normally £4 per hour each child, for siblings £3.25 each.

Thanks lololo.. sorry for all the questions... How many children can a childminder look after at one time?

Depends on the amount of space the childminder has and how many they're registered for with OFSTED. It can be up 6 under 5 with no more than 3 under 5. Of those only 1 can be under 1. Childminders are allowed an unlimited number of over-8s as long as it doesn't compromise the quality of care for the other children.

Those numbers include the childminders own children. It is possible to apply for variatrions (eg for twins under 1).

Oooops! That should be 6 under 8

Teach me to preview my messages...

thanks for the info...very useful

More advice needed!.... Met a really nice nanny yesterday and she has a child and would bring her daughter along when looking after my children and is happy to offer the care in either her home or mine.. has anyone had any experience of a nanny with her own child? would you expect the rates of pay to be lower in this situation?

There is a thread here debating how much of a reduction should be made to a nannies wage, when they bring their own child to work.

To be a nanny, care must be provided at your home, not the nannies home.