Attractive salary for an experienced nanny?

[BrandyAlexander]

Hi, this is my first post so hope I get this right...

I am about to start looking for a nanny to look after my 4 month old baby. The job will be shared charge for 6 months and then sole charge. It would be 55 hours per week - longer days Mon to Thurs and shorter day on Friday. I am looking for someone with at least 3/4 years experience who has looked after young babies before. I was wondering how much to pay as I do want someone with the right kind of experience. My preference is for a live in person and I was considering paying £25k per year gross which I think works out as about £380 net per week. I live in North Kent/SE London area. In terms of accomodation, the nanny would have a double bedroom (newly decorated and with mod cons) and a substantial family sized bathroom to themselves(and the baby). Duties would be the usual nanny ones only (we have a cleaner) and overseas travel might be included. The nanny would need to be a driver.

Please could nannies and other parents let me know whether the salary is good enough to attract someone with the level of experience I am looking for? Do experienced nannies still consider live in positions?

Thanks for your help!

tbh if you get someone with 3/4 yrs exp, i would have thought you can easily get a nanny for £25k gross - esp if live in

tbh you could prob reduce the salary to maybe £300 - 320 for live in

exp nannies do still live in, but these tend to be the single nannies, i have 2 friends who live in, both do earn more than what you are offereing but both have over 15years exp

That sounds a very good offer - if you're stretching yourself to afford that I don't actually think you need to go that high for live-in: £350 net might get you the right applicants, then you can leave yourself some room for negotiation. (Really good candidates might negotiate anyway, so always good to leave wriggle room.)

Re live-in/experience: yes, you will get people with that level of experience happy to live in, particularly I'd think overseas (Oz/NZ etc.) nannies - though with overseas nannies you don't tend to get very long stays, maybe a year-18 months max. Does that matter to you?

Not sure how useful it is to you but I live in roughly the same area from your description (Beckenham) and I pay £80 net per day for a nanny with 2 years experience but she is quite young still. She is live out though. She also provides her own fully insured car for use at work (we just pay her mileage).

As Bink says, with the position you're offering, I'd start with an offer lower than the £25k.

(BTW Don't know your feelings on agencies but if you are going use one I can highly recommend Rachel at Tinies in Orpington - they have found me my last two nannies. It is expensive but IME saves a HUUUGE amount of faff and time-wasting).

Blondeshavemorefun - thanks for your response. Would the £25k gross attract a qualified nanny with say, 5 years experience for live in?

Blink - good point re wriggle room, thank you!I know nothing is guaranteed in terms of how long a nanny stays, but I would prefer a UK nanny as that would give me at least a chance that I wouldn't have to do a nanny search on an annual basis. Also when we have family holidays or I travel on business, I think it would be easier to avoid the stress of visas and have flexibility on whether the nanny comes. Am I ruling out a whole chunk of good people?

I'm a driver, qualified (with specialist qualifications for maternity) British, driving nanny with 4 years experience, all with young babies and would probably work for that 25k live in. I'd definitely want £350/week. Lower I don't know...

The initial shared charge might put me off...I wouldn't want a 6 month handover, I like to just get down to it.

However that's just me and I'm not looking for a job right now! You may be able to go lower in the current climate. Good luck with your search

Just to echo frannikin - is the 6 month initial shared charge period because you think it's needed/expected, or because you want to hand over very gradually, will be working from home at first, or some other independent reason?

As we've found that with capable, experienced, nannies a handover of two weeks is nearly too much - some are ready to fly within a couple of days. (And even as inexperienced nanny employers, years ago, two weeks was enough for us to spot that someone was not right for us.)

Re overseas nannies, there are some gems out there! - but there are fabulous UK ones too (we've had both). I think so long as your initial search produces about 5 or 6 who look right on paper, you probably don't need to be trying to cast a wider net.

Bink/Frannikin - thank you for your insights. I may not have described the shared charge properly. This is what I mean......When I return to work, it will be part time (3 days per week) for 6 months and then I will switch to full time. I know that one of the days will be when I do my own chores so I would be at home but leaving nanny to it. So the nanny will definitely be solely in charge for 4 days per week. The other day of the working week would be for me to spend with my baby, so wouldn't be a lot of "working" for the nanny although it might be when she wants to catch up with her own nanny chores (so to speak). An alternative arrangement might be that nanny could have that day off if she wanted to trade it in for a saturday night babysitting. Am I wrong to describe it as shared charge?

Zakuro - thank you for the recommendation! I am gearing myself up to contact agencies, I just wanted to make sure that I tapped into some support here so that I have a better idea of what I am doing when I approach them as I don't want to be taken advantage of as a novice.

Yes - that's not shared charge at all, that's 4-day-week sole charge of a baby (and a nanny holy grail job, especially at the sort of salary you're considering ... though it is possible that the short-week aspect would have a stronger pull if this were a live-out job - I'm not sure if it would be a big extra incentive for a live-in. Anyway).

It does sound like the sort of job you hear nannies lamenting they can't find

Definitely don't describe it as shared charge - that means mum is going to be around all the time and breathing down your neck and would really put off experienced nannies!

I would just describe it as a sole charge position, and then at interview explain that it's four days sole charge and then a day for the nanny to get on with nursery duties etc.

I think it sounds like a lovely job

Novice - to echo what others have said here, you need to be reassured that the job you are offering is the ultimate job for a nanny. Babies are easy work for experienced nannies (I know, not for new mums, or even old mums!) but for good nannies this is the easiest kind of job. Kids get more of a handful when they start to talk back and need schlepping to xyz all the time!

So, I suppose I'm saying, don't let your anxiety about getting the perfect nanny for you (first?) baby make you overpay. Times are hard, and you'll want to be able to raise the pay and give a bonus to a good nany to give her incentives to stay as hopefully, the years go on. I'm not saying screw your nanny, I'm just saying take a breath and make sure you have at least some part of your head on that's acting like an employer, not only a mum anxious to get the best care for her precious baby.

I just speak from experience. I found a great nanny, but I def did not need to pay her what I offered her initially, and I should not have been so coy about asking her to do additional baby relating chores like cooking and laundry - I was just so deperate she focussed all her attention on DD, I did all this stuff myself. Silly, in hindsight as sole charge of my adorable DD at 6 months was clearly a plum job

tbh if you are about fri then i would state job as 4 days, and lower salary - not many nannies want to do a day of nursery duties when we can multitask ( as woman can ) and do all duties in the 4 days that the nanny would be there

a 4 day job with one baby is the best job i can think of

do they have to live in or would you accept a daily nanny?

Thank you everyone for the help and reassurance. I think I will go with £24k pa gross/£350 npw, describe it as sole charge and will initially give Fridays off (at my discretion so I don't create a later problem of expectation etc).

Blondes - we have considered a daily nanny, and have budgeted for that - I was thinking of £35k pa gross/£500 npw - if we can't get the right person to live in. (is that too high or too low?). We are starting with live in as overall it will be cheaper for us (but hopefully nanny still considers themselves well paid). We may still end up going the daily route if live in doesn't work for us.

Sycamore - you've got me spot on - new mum who is over anxious to get the best care for my precious baby - thanks for the advice.

Hi when are you looking for someone to start?

I have over 13 years exp working with under 2's and would happily accept that amount for a live in post

I would echo what sycamore has said.

I moved from au pair to nanny when my children were 7 and 5.

Offered a fortune to nanny just because I wanted peace of mind I hadnt had etc.

I niavely thought that nanny would focus all time and attention on DC's and didnt ask her to do anything extra as a result.

What I have ended up with is a very well paid childminder who lives in at my huge expense and I am run ragged working huge hours and most of the time she lolls around drinking coffee and chatting to my cleaner whilst I am still sorting kids PE kit at 11pm.

Dont focus on the pay. Work out what you and dd need and then interview. When you have found the person who will make adiffernce to your lives talk money.

Paying a massively salary does not guarantee sucess. I speak from experience.

Eeyore12 - if you CAT me, will give you more information.

Dicksbird - that sounds horrendous. thanks for the advice. Presumably your nanny is very good with your children? One of my friends gets really irritated by her au pair but says that good childcare is hard to find so shes caught between a rock and a hard place.

dicksbird more fool you for doing it, if you have a nanny,that nanny should sort out childrens things for school etc, if you were employing and and sure she did nothing 9-3 when children were at school, then she should at least of pulled her weight and made sure everything was sorted for you

novice -tbh £500 a week is the very top end of the scale of a nanny wage and you dont need to offer that amount to a girl with only 3/4yrs exp - that is the kind of salary/wage that only a very experienced nanny should earn with maybe 15yr+ exp

i personally would maybe offer live in salary of 320 and live out £400 if you have a younger girl

No she isnt a good nanny but bizarrely my children are very fond of her.

We will be changng schools in Sept and then I wont need her anymore which is why I dont rock the boat now.

Good luck in your search.

Can I just make a little point that not all Kiwis and Aussies do a bunk after a year! I am a kiwi and stayed in my last job for 4 yrs and plan to do the same in this job (will only leave when they start school and am no longer needed!). Many of us have ancestry visas, indefinite leave to remain (me!) or UK passports and esp in the current financial climate are keen to find a good job and stay in it! I would advertise the job as ideal for someone seeking a long term position... I'd go for it! The money sounds just right and you sound like a lovely potential employer. Best of luck!