Am I right in thinking nannies are so expensive because so many people don't pay the tax/NI?

[1dilemma]

OK hunt still going on a bit halfhearted because our ideal would be September.

Every single nanny I have contacted (even for Sept. start) has basically said that their NI/tax isn't paid, hence I'm guessing thier employers are happier to pay them what they would be paying gross.

I'm sure you're all paying tax etc and I intend to but I would value comments and some suggestions as to how to find one that does 'want' to pay tax.

Yes
Bit cheaper out of London
Live in cheaper again but getting a place big enough for us is one thing getting somewhere wiht enough room for a nanny as well.....

1Dilema - I'm impressed you are talking tax and NI !
Ive had an ad/responded to ads on Gumtree and I would say only 1 in 10 are willing.

What benefit? Those lot all mad... due to the 10% banding thing, I end up getting less pay, not more. Thus I would have thought that those on a NET contract, would not have seen that drop in salary.

Employers all need to refuse to talk in NET, Agencies all need to refuse to talk in NET (I did ask the Association of Nanny Agencies about that once, never got a response), then nannies would have to get used to GROSS pay.

agree about the tax thing, if it changes that yes nannies do seem to lose some of their wageif on a gross wage, hence why I prefer to be paid in a nett figure, but as said before I will tell employers what the gross would be to give them a ball park figure when trying to sort out what employingme wouldcost them

quite nannynick, I was looking at KIWIOZ nannies the other day and I'm thinking all their rates are net and I found it REALLY annoying.
I think it really encourages the whole not paying tax/NI thing and for people to think of it as OK

i afford it, just, by sharing a nanny, and by being quite old so we bought a house a while ago.

However, my nanny doesn't earn £35K - she earns just under £25K gross, of which we pay half. A pretty good wage for round here, and the total wage is certainly more than our household income, hence the share!

true Jura - though my Mb was happy to pay me a nett wage - tbh think most of my friends are on a nett wage

it is the fault of agencies - they say nett so therefore most nannies talk nett

I have tried so many times to offer salaries in gross terms but have always gotten pushed back from agencies. And when I advertised on gumtree, most nannies appeared to be confused and requested price net figures. It would certainly be easier if everything was on gross but in my own experience as an employer it has always ended up being net. And nanny salaries in the London area (w1) certainly at £35k gross and quite standard. I don't get the impression that the credit crunch has had any effect on the nanny wage front.

Agree Gidleigh don't think the credit crunch has affected very much at all so far except prices/the banks but once people start to feel the pinch it will all go tits up.

I was reading today about the huge number of public sector jobs that have been created that don't actually do anything.

(By that of course people in these new jobs come to work, sit down at their desk switch on their computer etc but do we really think the 18 week wait counters are doing a necessary job? Are we really prepared to support them all with learning plans, employer sponsored educational leave, final salary pension schemes and generous holiday pay, fine if as a nation we are but then we are going to have to accept a 3/3/4% rise in NI to pay for it all etc etc.)

Anyway what I was thinking is that once some serious redundancies have fed through, if any do, people will have to sack their nanny then there will be increased competition and wages will drop.
we'll see