What do central london nannies cost?

[Boompi]

Does anyone have a rough idea of what a part-time, live-out, qualified nanny should cost in North London.(per hour or per day) What are other 'hidden costs?
Dilemma as to whether we should be looking at a nursery or nanny for our unborn(!) child. I will have to return to work part time when they are 8 months.

Nanny - £7/£8 per hour, plus nat insurance and tax if you do it properly. Roughly half again so at £8 per hour to nanny, cost £12 per hour to you.

The question is do you really want to work !!!

Hidden costs (over and above nursery costs) are heating bills, food for nanny and children, a float or kitty for any activities / trips out, liability for maternity sick pay at some level.
Benefits: more flexibility / can leave a child with nanny if ill - but have to find cover if nanny is ill. Small children are more often ill than nannies, though, and you can't send them to nursery with the conjunctivitis that they invariably caught there!
Nurseries get cheaper as the child gets older - nannies don't.

I don't know about central london, but have just worked out hidden costs (nanny compared to me as SAHM) for a p/t nanny in the countryside at £1800 per year!! I started a thread on this called something like 'nannies: hidden costs' recently. This was from:
agency fees (variable - ask the agencies or advertise privately - thought hopefully wouldn't be every year)
car insurance (insuring her to drive my car)
nanny lunch (e.g. she might eat at your home twice a week and out once, assuming a 3 day week)
activities (e.g. music groups / toddler clubs etc - round here they are £4 a time for a formal group; £2 for soft play; £1 for a toddler club)
nanny using telephone for arrangements
Bonuses / presents
'approved childcarer' fee - £96
payroll company (e.g. nannypaye.co.uk at £150 or nannytax.co.uk at £250)

you might need to add in a travel card for nanny? Also heating in your home.

I added in work clothes and travel to work as I was comparing with SAHM, but you'd be paying for those whether you use a nursery or nanny.

nannypaye.co.uk has a very useful table converting net pay of nanny into gross cost to you - remember employer's NI as well as employee's NI and tax.

Good luck. I would expect a nanny to cost more... it's more than double a nusery place round here.

Just a thought, have you also looked into the cost of using a registered childminder?

Well a full time daily nanny in london would cost in the region of £400 net per week.... which asssumes a week of approx 10 hours a day and 5 days per week, and MAY (or may not) incluse one evenings babysitting per week

I'm in central London and pay 10 pounds per hour plus tax and national insurance. Also paid agency fee initially. And we do have a kitty for activities with dd, though our nanny is quite thrifty.

£10/hour net...

I think there are cheaper alternatives, depending on whether you use an agency, how much experience he/she has, level of education, etc.

Also did you say "they" would be 8 months when you return? If there are two of them, a live in nanny can be more cost effective for you. However, you obviously wouldn't want to leave an 8 month child with someone who didn't have much experience and at least a couple of good and verifiable references.

Also, if cost is a factor and you are having only one, you might find a local childminder to be a good option. I employ a nanny now, but I used a childminder until my first child was just over a year old. This, to me, was the happy medium between the stimulation and supervision of a nursery and the nurturing homey king of feeling of being at home.

I feel that a nanny for just one child is often far too expensive, when compared with other forms of child care. Certainly if you have the money and want your child cared for in your home, then a nanny is viable for you... but otherwise the cost is very high.

Nannies really start to make more sense when you have 2 or more children. If say you had three children all under 5, then a nanny is far more of an option and can be cheaper than a childminder in some areas.

Keep your options open, look at all the posibilities in your area: nannies, childminders and nurseries. You may find that after looking around for a bit you start to prefer a certain form of childcare over another.

That is true jothorpe, but dont forget 'us nannies' will also do all the childrens washing / ironing, and keep their rooms / playroom / toys all 'sorted' etc.

If you are a working mum you will then need to find time to do all this for yourself, as well as work and be with your child.

Nannies will also cook nutritouse food for your child, which some (but not all) childminders / nursarys will do!

• if you are weaning a baby its not unreasonable to expect a nanny to do alot of cooking / pureeing so you dont have to 'worry' about that and feed your children 'jars', and can just get it out of the freezer

As a nanny i take great pride in leaving an immaculate kitchen every day, and dont mind unloading the dishwasher etc... all things that will eat into preciouse home hours for working mums!

So yes we are more expensive but you do get more for your money!

AS a working mum, I'd like to second everything Nannyl just said. It is precisely why I have a nanny (or did until she left yesterday and I began maternity leave for baby number 2). There is definitely value in the person who will tidy the house, organise the kids' rooms, cook them real food, etc.

To save on some of the cost you might want to consider sharing a nanny with a friend, if you know someone who lives nearby with a child of similar age to yours. I did that and it helped with the extra costs, the nanny's daily rate was a little higher as she was looking after 2 babies instead of one but the tax, NI, kitty, petrol money, nanny's lunch etc was split between the two of us. The nanny alternated weeks working in my house and my friend's house but you can arrange this however you wish so long as it's mutually agreeable with your friend and the nanny. You say part-time so maybe you want the nanny 3 days a week and you could find someone else who wants the nanny two/three days a week you could employ her as one employer so you split the costs, then have her each for 2 days and both babies together on the 5th day having the share that way. There are many permutations and combinations of this you might want to consider.

Thanks for all this info everyone.

We really need to consider our budget though. A nanny share may be viable but we cant afford it own our own for one child it seems. Its seems terrible to be thinking of cost over best childcare but I have to be practical.

Boompi,
I just sent you a CAT. Let me know if I can be of help. You don't actually have to sell your sole to get a nanny... but possibly an arm and a leg.

Good luck!!

dd1 went to a childminder and it was a very positive experience for us. Obviously you need to find the right one but if you do they can be great. Similar in price to nursery - a lot cheaper than a nanny. Some of the advantages of a nanny - home environment, close relationship, consistency, routines that more closely reflect "normal" (whatever that is) life - eg toddler groups, perhaps a quick shopping trip and a school run - all providing a change of scenery and stimulation. I would definitely repeat it for my first, rather than nanny or nursery

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Thanks Lisalisa. Hope you are keeping well. Haven't heard from you in a while. I hope the job and pregnanvy are treating you well.