What is a reasonable salary expectation for a young live-out full-time nanny in outer London

[Undrugged]

My soon to be 18 year old will be looking for a live-out nannying job for 1-2 years post- A levels, from summer 2026. We are in London/ Surrey borders. She wants to do an expensive and very specific childcare degree course that I can’t afford as a single parent unfortunately. This is a way of saving for her fees and also getting real, practical experience of nannying for a couple of years prior.

She has work history already - a job which involves preparing full family meals from scratch 3 times a week, ironing, cleaning, gardening, in a multi-generational home. she’s done this since she was 14. Also now volunteering on weekends with a family with a child with moderate SEND and absolutely loving every minute of it.

She would do a paediatric first aid course and seek Ofsted reg as a home childcarer before starting work.

Realistically — what is the going rate for a very young nanny these days? And how would you suggest she looks for work? And how does she addrsss the issue of only being available for a max of 2 years? She does not want to fib but I can see this would be less attractive to families looking for continuity of care with their children.

How exciting! I've watched a few Documentaries about Norland Nannies and think I read a book about them too. Best of luck to your daughter x

Some of these responses are so irrelevant and unhelpful.

Nannies in London (zone 2/3) with experience are usually minimum £15 p/h net.

There is a desperate shortage of after school nannies and that’s what I see most people looking for on local social groups. So someone to collect the kids around 3 and look after them until around 6. I think families would be open to a younger, English speaking nanny with less experience for their primary school ages kids in particular who can engage with them and maybe help with homework. Driving can be a bonus but usually isn’t a dealbreaker because most primary school kids attend a school within walking or at least easy public transport distance. I reckon even with relatively little experience your daughter could get £14 or £15 p/h for that role.

During the morning she could look for a mother’s help role and again be looking at at least £13 ph.

I think at her age a full time nanny role would probably be challenging to find, not least because for families it’s becoming very expensive with the NI increases etc and full time nannies are usually being hired for babies and toddlers and I don’t think a lot of people would entrust their little ones with a teenager full time.

Please also make sure that she isn’t taken advantage of eg in terms of wages/treatment, that there’s some kind of contract that includes holidays etc (normally about 4 weeks, two of which she can choose and two of which would be when the family are away) and also tell her to be on the lookout for predatory men in the household. You’d hope it wouldn’t happen but it doesn’t hurt to be vigilant.

It’s about £17k a year. You do get the normal student loan of £6k then you have to pay the rest. Uniform is around £1k.
Norland group students for the first year to stay in shared rentals. This costs around £600 per month each.
Around £55k all in for the 3 year course plus the monthly accommodation cost of £600.

Thanks very much @BooToYouHalloween
@Slippersandrum
@Wishboneswishes all.

This is well outside my normal comfort zone and it’s good to know neither me nor DD is completely off the mark. Yeah, there is a fee gap of around 11k per year (x3) to be covered. We are both nervous of her starting without plans for how to cover that level of fees. I don’t have any further borrowing capacity and while she may be able to get commercial loans to cover it, that feels like a really bad idea.

I can’t believe £600 per month sounds ok … but it’s actually a fair bit less than many of my contemporaries’ kids are paying for uni lodgings.

I just did a quick Bank of England inflation calculation, and worked out I paid £290 per month (accounting for CPI inflation) for accommodation when I was in my third year of Uni. For her it will be +100% higher plus a bit. Crazy stuff. Although she will hopefully not have a flat with mushrooms growing out of the bath…

Luckily she is much, much more resourceful than I ever was and has a much keener eye for the economic realities of life. Thanks, divorce and single parenthood 😂

I think this is wrong. Being a mother’s help is defined by what you’re doing, not by your years of experience.

Since Brexit, it has been nigh on impossible to find nannies, let alone good ones . I don’t know what the salaries are-I’m too far past that now. But even 10 years ago, I was paying a nanny £15 an hour with employer tax on top.

@Slippersandrum We’ve had that conversation but if she had a live-in position immediately post graduation I think she could pay off her tuition fees pretty swiftly. Norlanders earn a lot straight out of college. A quarter more per annum than eg an NQT in London and with no rent, food, utilities or transport costs.

Yeah, the whole Au Pair market has by all accounts completely imploded since Brexit. It’s quite hard to employ an au pair now isn’t it? They’d have to either have a right to remain or be on student visas or something?

I had an amazing 18 - 19 year old mind my children during Covid...she was so fantastic.

Your dd sounds pretty good too so I wouldn't let her age put her off. And she does have experience.

A pediatric first aid course would be an essential imo.

I paid a bit over minimum wage as it was all I could afford, everything was closed but dh and I were essential workers.

Could I please ask a few questions about this?

Is it basically sole care of a 2-year-old and wraparound for the other two children?

What are the weekly working hours?

Where is your friend based in the UK?

Oh gosh yeah to living costs: DD will not only have to work prior to study to cover fees but also to contribute to living costs during the course.

on the plus side she will be actually employable, unlike me after graduation ;)

That sounds absolutely ideal. You’ve given me (and more importantly her) hope. Thank you.

Lots of opportunities for Norland students to earn while studying. There’s an app for babysitting and holiday jobs and the students have FB groups where they post jobs for families they work for to cover their holidays and extra babysitting etc. I wouldn’t worry about finding work once she’s in. She could also get summer holiday jobs too with families - they are quite lucrative!

At 18 with no childcare quals , I would expect to pay nmw for her first nanny job

I was 18 and started nannying but did the nneb 2yr course - this was 33yrs ago

there are people who will Employ her but she won’t get £15ph

more like £10ph for her age

she will need as basic

dbs
paed first aid
pli

A member of my family has had an absolutely amazing career as a nanny in LA. She has no quality whatsoever but has the cache of being an English Nanny! That seemed to be good enough!

She has worked for all sorts of celebrities and has travelled all over the world.

I did a ‘year out’ as a nanny after university as I wanted to live in London and that seemed like a good way to do it. I had no qualifications or experience but I got a job with a family in Kensington. Three days later I was in a castle in France. It was quite an experience.

I know someone in her third year at Norland. She worked for two years after A levels as a TA at her old school (nursery to Y2) plus did loads of babysitting to save up and help with her application. She’s finding the course tough but enjoys it (and loves living in Bath).