Nanny salaries - omigod, is it really this much now??

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For some reason, i decided to have a look at the website of imperial nannies, eden nannies, and peekaboo. These are agencies i have used in the past. I am not in search of a new nanny - currently have a live-in one (has been with us 15 months and she is LOVELY!) but just wanting to be nosey to see what are the going rates at the moment.
I am slightly shocked to see the LIVE-IN RATES to be more like £400-450 pw NET. With some of them, it is only for 1 baby - like a 13 month old!
Am i the only one shocked by this? I pay my nanny £320 net pw for 2 kids. I am now paranoid she will chance upon some of this and think we grossly underpay her which i don't think we do?!? (some of these agencies keep her in their email distribution list as she was registered with them before).
ELEUSIS, i need perspective!!!

Dont know for live-out, but live-in pay here in Richmond/Twickenham was quoted same as all areas of london (I have interviwed all over the place!)

I worked back in 2003 in Cambridge for £250 nett per week live in Mon-Fri. I had sole use of a car too. (I easily did 60 hrs plus a week!)

Prior to that I worked in Surrey for a high profile family that was hard going but I only worked 8-6pm Tue-Fri and 9:30am-4pm on a Saturday. I had one charge (unless it was the holiday when his siblings were at home from boarding school) and I earned £350 nett and was often paid extra for running more errands. This was in 2000-2002. I had sole use of a car and the option of a nanny flat or to live in the house.

Why do so meany people listen to agencies????? I've never paid anything like these (outrageous!) figures. I always wonder if those agency surveys are actually representative of nanny employers who recruit through agencies, rather than nanny employers on the whole. Surely the agency market is higher paid then those (like me) who do their own recruiting. SOmeone who has never been a nanny should expect to make more like £250 net.

I recently hired our next nanny. And I dod remember one applicant from scotlandwho had no nanny experience an wnted 350 net. Erm... no, I don't think so. unbelieveable.

Oh, and I bought her a sim card today for her mobile.

It amazes me. I have been a nanny for many years and am also a mum. Being a nanny is my career. I enjoy it and work hard. I put a lot into my job and you can see this by the way the children I care for look forward to seeing me each day and wave to their parents without a problem when they leave for work.

Surely I should be paid more than a young person just out of training. Each time I change jobs I usually have to take a cut in my wages which is annoying.

The people we work for are professional and educated. I find it hard to take, that they try and cut corners and get a nanny who is cheaper. We are talking about their most precious possessions!!! As a mum I pay more than I can afford for after school care to get someone experienced and committed to look after my children. They are MY children and I want what is best for them.

I approached my boss about a pay review after being there for over a year. She said nanny wages Hadn't gone up in the past year so no. Then went on to praise me for the fantastic things I do with the children etc. If I was to leave it would cost her a whole lot in agencies fees to get someone else and then have to retrain someone new. This proves she has no respect for my job as a nanny!! And she is supposed to be intelligent!!! My travel costs have gone up. Council tax is going up, gas and electricity have gone up etc but hey I'm just the nanny.

Erm, my children aren't "posessions". And I think that how much money one is willing to sacrifice for childcare arrangement actually has a lot to do with one's own level of income and very little to do with how much they love their children.

Implying that people who can't afford to pay above market rate for a nanny love their children less is indeed very insulting.

howtimeflies,
i am nicer than eleusis but i do agree with her. Costs have gone UP for ALL families - i.e. council tax, gas, electricity etc. If you have approached them about a pay review and they refused but are happy with you, surely it crossed their minds that it will cost them more to replace you if you left. So perhaps, the additional cost would really be very difficult for them to absorb?
Your comment "but hey i'm just the nanny" suggests you think they look down on you>? Apart from the pay, are there any other issues you are unhappy with>?

Oh okay, so you are nicer then me. That's not saying a lot, is it?

you're right, it doesn't say much ....
the nanny salaries as reported by that link provided by legalalien is definitely going up higher than my salary! But long my nanny remain happy in her job!
i am being crippled by half term at the moment as DD seems to be having a playdate everyday - problem is it's always in a congestion charging zone so it's £8 before she has actually gone or eaten anywhere!!!

Morning all.
The people I have worked for now and in the past could/can afford to pay the going rate, and review my wages. In all past jobs I have been approached with a very good wage increase and a bonus and incredibly generous birthday and Christmas gifts. I Have been lucky but then like I say I work hard as it is more than just a job to me.

Okay children are not possessions! But they ARE the most important people in our lives.
Not saying you love your children less - what I am getting at is if people try and cut back its usually on childcare costs. They want the top nanny with all qualifications, experience, great references etc but complain about paying the price!!!!

My children go to the local state school - which we are extremely happy with. The children I look after will be going to top schools in Hampstead. Does not mean I love mine less

Page62 is it possible to get to your DD s play date by bus? Adds to the adventure!!!! Only 90p per bus ride with an oyster card

Sorry Page62. Love my position and love the children. I guess what bugs me is the fact mum comes home all excited because she got a great bonus and pay rise not for one minute thinking I would also like my pay reviewed!!! I always stay in jobs a long time as sometimes its best for children, parents and nanny and if everyone is happy its great but maybe this time around I will look around!

I think nannies hit the pay ceiling very quickly though. Wages tend to rise by as much as £1ph for a years experience up to about 4 years and then £1ph every 4 years! So yes howtimeflies I think you're partially right, but inflation on nanny salaries particularly in the early part of a career is ridiculous.

And that's me speaking as a nanny. If I was working in an office or a bar I'd be earning just over minimum wage, but I get £7ph as a nanny.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - nanny wages are totally distorted by everyone talking in terms of net pay. I always agree a gross salary but many nannies don't even understand what this means.

Normal people get taxed proportionately more the more they earn. Not nannies who agree net salaries which stems from the practice of paying nannies cash in hand. Every single nanny I have ever interviewed has had a least some of her pay paid cash in hand to evade tax. Some nannies I have interviewed seem to think that paying tax is an optional extra. Certainly thier employers, who are after all responsible for deducting the tax, do.

What really annoys me is that most of these nannies have been working for people in very highly paid jobs who live in posh areas of London. Whereas people like me who work within the law end up paying through the nose because of it and can hardly afford it.

Every time I get references I feel like dobbing them in to Inland Revenue.

We have nannies because we think its the best option for our kids but this has sometimes resulted in the situation where I am actually paying to go to work.

Trying to clarify something...

The NannyTax survey to my knowledge is based solely on the nannies wages that nannytax produce payslips for, on behalf of employers. It therefore represents how much the clients of that payroll agency pay their nannies. The figures are Gross, not net.
Therefore it does not represent the pay of nannies as a whole, as many parents use other payroll agencies, process the payroll themselves, and some don't declare it at all.
The figures are an average of some kind... don't know what type of average... so it is possible I feel that if a few nannies in a particular area are paid a lot higher than the majority, it may affect the average figure. Also I feel that there is likely to be quite large ranges of salary in each area... some nannies being paid quite low, while others high.

However, is this how the figures are obtained? The following appears in the NannyTax Wages Survey intro: "Of the nanny agencies that took part in this year?s survey 40% predict that salaries will continue to increase in 2008, although some suggest this may only rise in line with the rate of inflation." This could imply that only some agencies took part in the survey and that the figures came from the agencies, rather than the actual pay data the payroll company has. But this was in a section called "Future Trends" thus it is possible that agencies were only surveyed on their thoughts about the future.

We can't know for sure how the figures are obtained, unless NannyTax will add more details to their website regarding the process of collecting and processing that data.

My feeling is that to be accurate, the figures need to come from the payroll company data, not from agencies. That may be how the figures are derived - but we can't be sure. I feel the NannyTax Wages Survey is a useful guide, but it is just a guide... it does not mean that all nannies get those pay amounts.

A family isnt the sort of employer where you can expect your wages to go up and up and up. For most people there usually just isnt that much in the pot - and whatever their bonuses might be, the salary usually represents a very large portion of monthly outgoings. I consider it similar to working for a small company vs a bigger, poss multinational. The larger company will likely be able to provide more benefits and a different package overall. Then you have to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of both, etc.

Great post, Nick. Also,it's worth pointing out that nanny tax is considerable more expensive than say nannypaye.co.uk (and some others whose names and web addresses I can't remember off the top of my head). So, it's probably reasonable to assume that nanny tax clientele are the high end of the nanny employer market. And, hence, they may very well be in a position to pay more than us common nanny employers.

Oh Jura, will you EVER stop talking about yourself?