Pay drop whilst still in care of siblings

[Beanshoot]

Hi everyone! Can I have opinions please?

I started my current nanny position nearly 4 years ago ( 4 years in March), for twin boys who were 4 months old at the time. My rate was £12gross per hour. Fast forward a year or so later and mum gets pregnant unexpectedly. I get a pay rise ( I didn’t ask for it) once the baby is born to £15 gross when I am on my own with all three, and back down to £12 when mum is home with me ( this was twice a week for one week then once a week the next week etc etc)

Fast forward to after the new baby is here and the twins got diagnosed with autism. It’s been extremely hard work! But we rolled with it. Fast forward again to 4 weeks ago and I got a pay rise £18 when I’m alone with all three, but dropped down to £12 when I’m either with the youngest alone or if one of the twins goes to nursery or if one goes upstairs for a therapy session. Or if mum is home with me which is now only once every two weeks. So basically I drop down to £12 if I’m left with 1 child or 2. But £18 with all three.

I’m debating to ask mum to be up to £15 when I have 1 or 2? It’s actually still extremely hard when it’s like that as the youngest is a little terror ( but bloody adorable!) and due to the twins being autistic, it can get quite messy with the youngest taking their stuff and them screaming for it etc.

I have and still am toilet training all three when I’m here, it’s all been completely new to me dealing with children on the spectrum and I feel I have took it in my stride and didn’t leave when the going got tough! But I just feel a drop back to £12 is quite a lot !

Advice would be nice!

I know nothing about employing a nanny but I'm really surprised to hear you get less when you're not by yourself. Is that common?

This must be tricky to do from a payroll viewpoint, as you would need to track all the time how many children were in your care, thus the pay rate.

Would it not be easier to have an annual salary which is based on working x number of hours per week? Then any additional hours over that are paid as extra? No need to take account then of which children are in your care.

Is there any kind of funding from Social Services which is meaning at times you are a 1:1 for a particular child? Anything like that which is complicating things?

This is not normal in my nanny circles. You should get paid the same amount whether mum is there or not. How tricky must that get with payroll! They need to pay you a set hourly wage.

How do you feel about asking for a flat £16 an hour? Or something that’s a nice mid point?

This is nuts and not at all normal. Frankly if it were me I'd be looking for a flat rate of £18 or a new job, it doesn't really sound like they value you and twins on the spectrum plus a younger sibling must be about as difficult as it gets! Now you've got all that experience you could probably get a much easier position somewhere else that would pay just as well.

Where do you work? Near me, £15 gross is quite normal anyway even for one child if an experienced nanny, would be more for 3 kids including SEN.

How weird. How do you total weekly wage as hour rate changes so much

£18 gross is amazing wage for a nanny

Why did it go to £15 to £18. Two pay rises in less then a year

Yes obv twins and then autism plus third child is stressful

What will happen in sept when twins start school at almost 5

But agree you need a set hourly rate regardless of how many children you have