How much to pay nanny?

[Np1988]

Hi guys looking for some advice. How much is a reasonable amount to pay a nanny/au pair that will be live in and has recently come to the UK? We recently became parents and sadly have no help from family and have busy jobs but want the best care for our son while we are working from home too. I’ve found someone from the Philippines who is a young girl that I’d have to train but is looking for a job. She wants to live in Monday - Saturday so wondering how I should approach the salary conversation? Any help or advice is much appreciated!

First thing to work out - is she an au pair or a nanny? Because they have very, very, different responsibilities and pay scales.

I guess she’ll be more of an au pair to help with house chores/baby and be live in?

If she’s an Au Pair she has to have time for study and strict hours when she can and can’t work.

What visa is she on? Does she have the right to live an work in the UK? It can be a minefield with huge fines if you are caught employing an illegal worker.

https://www.gov.uk/au-pairs-employment-law/au-pairs

Au pairs don’t look after babies. Nannies do. Work out her hours. It starts about £14 per hour. Is she here to learn English?

Au pairs look after older dc usually before and after school.
Full time care of a baby would be the job of a nanny, it doesn't seem particularly sensible to leave the care of your baby with a young unqualified person.
Why not hire a qualified nanny if you want that?

It sounds like you need a nanny not an au pair, as your child is so young.

You also need to hire her formally, understand employment law, tax regulations, make proper filings etc. There are companies that help you with the HR and tax paperwork.

Employing cash in hand someone with no legal right to work could leave you in significant legal trouble.
So you need to be very careful and do everything by the book.

This is very helpful thank you all, clearly such a novice over here!! Yes you are right maybe I need a nanny that has domestic experience too to help with other jobs around the house. I’ll look into this further thanks! I’m based in Essex too in case anyone might have any recommendations!

In case you don’t know, the family worker exemption to the minimum wage legislation is being repealed from April so you’ll have to pay an au pair at least minimum wage. https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/minimum-wage-exemption-for-live-in-workers-removed/

A lot of Nannie's won't to be 'helping with other jobs around the house'. It like asking your plumber to mow the lawn.

be upfront & ask away, but PE prepared to be told 'no thanks'

look at a house keeper, but equally often the don't want to look after kids.

what you want is fine, but it's a much smaller pool of interested parties.

you have to be upfront from the staff what you want though, or it'll never work.

Parents working from home is not something that most Nannie's/housekeepers want either.

you pool is going to be very small.

Look at nannypaye.co.uk or equivalent to look at the tax, NI, contract, holidays, sick leave, SMP etc - best to go into these things understanding the responsibilities of an employer.

The Philippine girl you have found, sounds like she could be just what you need. You'll need to phone around some agencies to ask them some questions about how to employ her legally & their suggested pay rate if you use their payroll services.

Not read PPs. Be mindful of modern day slavery! It sounds like you’re trying to find a way to get round things here . You can train her all you want. She’s not a trained nanny in the trusest sense.

She is a vulnerable young woman, from an economically deprived background. You are in a position to exploit her position. Be careful.

@SportMum1982 i would never exploit anyone im merely trying to find out what’s allowed what’s normal and what isn’t as a new mother who’s struggling and learning the ropes at the same time about everything. Coming from an Asian background myself im very aware of how my ancestors have been exploited. Thanks for the lecture though.

@WagWoofWalkMeeoow that’s great advice thank you so much

Generally in UK a nanny is just for childcare. They might help with child related things like child’s laundry or tidy playroom or cook for child.
But nanny’s don’t do domestic chores, clean or cook for family usually. If you need that you need to hire a separate cleaner or housekeeper

I have a nanny who does so much around the house. She is expensive tho at £19 per hour (London) but I figure it's basically a brilliant nanny with cleaning as well so it's actually quite cheap if you think you're getting two for 1 . It's very easy to get this, adverts here call it "Mothers help" or literally Nanny/housekeeper. You pay a premium but my god the housekeeping side is so worth it. She's so professional at both sides

Also, not sure if saying this will get me in trouble but I've had people from the Philippines work for me and they are the best workers, their attention to detail is so good and they take pride in all their work. The ones I've had anyway

Not true, there are lots and their niche is that they do both as it's so sought after

How much would you like/want/think you would be 'worth' doing that job?
For what you are looking for - remuneration should be very good (if you want a good job done).

She wants to live in Monday-Saturday

Where would she go on Sunday?!

I'd have a good at look at what childcare options are available, you seem very new to all this and a bit confused about who does what etc.

Look into nurseries, childminders, nannies and au pairs and see which fits your needs best.

You're maybe looking for a live-in junior nanny and a cleaner. Or if you want the very best care for your child probably an experienced and qualified nanny (this will be more expensive) and a cleaner/housekeeper. Or a nanny-housekeeper, but they normally work with older children who are school age (they do childcare before and after-school and then the housekeeping during the day).