if you are a nanny, would you accept less pay if there was lots of time off?

[citybranch]

I think a live out nanny would work really well for our family when I go back in the spring, but looking at what a typical nanny charges here (Essex) it seems pretty unaffordable.

DH and I are both shiftworkers and we plan to do opposing shifts. We are both on a rolling roster and the shift starts and finishes vary wildly, plus we do some weekends and then get days off in the week.
Fulltime childcare seems to be the best option (had p/t childcare after returning to work after DS - it did not work as there was no time for sleep!)

We get a lot of annual leave which we sometimes take at different times, where we wouldn't need a nanny, so could offer this as a perk.

This is kind of what I'm thinking:
Agreed hours 9-6, mon-fri but one weekend required per month (plenty of notice given of which weekend). When the weekend is worked, 2 days off will be in the week.

In addition, at least one half day (or even full day) off in the week, paid. This would fall on our day off midweek, would probably be able to inform which day it would be a week in advance.

12 weeks paid holiday, this would fall on our annual leave dates and be in blocks of one or two weeks. Would be able to inform of dates for the year ahead well in advance. If the nanny needed a particular week or two off we would hopefully be able to arrange that if plenty of notice was given.

Duties would be to look after a 3year old boy and 8 month old girl. Both children in the morning and then drop the 3 year old at nursery at 1pm every day, and then just mind the baby. Nursery, town centre, underground train station, leisure centre, park and surestart centre are all walking distance so driving licence is not necessary.

BUT my budget for the Nanny is only £250 per week (perhaps could stretch to a tiny bit more) and I need to do the tax/N.I. out of that.
Would someone go for this or am I dreaming?
Would the time off be enough of a perk? Any advice/opinions/ideas welcome!

P.S. My employers cannot give me fixed days off because of the roster, so getting a straightforward part-time nanny not an option .

Forgot to say..... although the agreed hours would be 9-6 and the nanny would need to be available for those hours, there would be lots of opportunity for finishing early/coming in later.. it would all be down to which shift combination DH and I were on that week, and whether either of us needed to sleep in the daytime.

You're offering a gross annual salary of around £13000 - that's pretty low for someone to live on in the south east/London. Even with all the time off, the nanny would still have to pay her rent and bills out of that.

Could you offer live-in? The wage sounds ok for a live-in nanny for a 40 hour week.

Alternatively, maybe a 20 year old newly qualified nanny still living at home? It's around the same wage a nursery nurse would be on, so maybe a nursery nurse looking for her first nanny job?

It's unclear from your post what the overall number of hours worked per week would be but at a guess, I think the salary you are offering will only come to just above minimum wage so you can only hope to get an inexperienced nanny for your money. I was going to suggest that perhaps an aupair would work if you could put the children in nursery for more hours and just have her cover beginnings and ends of the day and weekends but realised that your budget probably wouldn't cover both the aupair cost and the increased cost of nursery.

Wish I could think of another solution but hopefully someone wiser will be along in a minute with some thoughts!

Would a childminder suit at all? I used to CM for a couple who were both nurses, so also shift-workers, and they simply paid me a set fee each month, regardless of how much or how little I actually minded the child. It pretty much evened out over time, I knew how much I was earning each month and they knew how much they had to pay, so it suited us all.

I work that out to be 45 hours a week so to cover minimum wage you would need to offer about £270

You may find someone with their own child or no experience would do it - shame you aren't in my area as i would be interested

Thanks for your replies! Couldn't offer Live-in, not enough bedrooms!

What about a nanny who did 4 days a week for that money? The days off would be different every week though, usually a weekend and one other day. And then the 12 weeks paid holiday too.

OldLady - your childminder arrangement does sound very good. The 2 CMs close to me are full just now, and I may look further afield but I don't drive yet!

I had a childminder for DS who was a bus ride away.
I would get in from a late shift at 2.30 am, get up with DS at about 7 am, be a zombie all morning, 20 min bus ride to CM to get there for 1pm, 20 min bus ride back and then try to sleep (it rarely happened) and then leave at 3.30 pm for 90min commute into work.
DH would get home from work at 4.30pm, collect DS at 6pm (he drives so not too bad) and then try and keep him up until 8.30 or 9pm so that he would sleep later in the morning, enabling me to sleep.
It waws hell! Never saw DH, was knackered all the time, work suffered, DS didn't know whether he was coming or going (he was 9months when this started) struggled to keep up with housework.

So a nanny who comes to us would really improve our quality of life but I'm not sure we do have the funds to stretch to this.

Looking at it, National Minimum Wage is your initial problem given your budget and hours of work required.

If you were say to pay £12,000 a year... Employers NI on top pushes that up to £12,805 roughly... then there are misc other costs to take into account, nannies transport costs during the day, cost of activities, food/light/heat costs, payroll cost (if using a payroll company). If it is 45 hours a week, then it's 2340 hours a year, so if paying £12k then £5.13 an hour. It's below NMW, unless the person is under 22.
If dropping to 4 days a week, 36 hours a week, if paid at £12k per year gross then £6.40 an hour. Above NMW now.

It might appeal to a newly qualified person who is still living at home with their parents (as they may then have a very low rent) but not sure if it would suit anyone else, as the salary is low.

The 12 weeks paid holiday is a good perk to be offering, it helps compensate for the variable working days including weekend working.

Not sure what childminding rates are in your area but I suspect it could cost you about the same - and most childminder's won't do the children's laundry.

Where in Essex are you, citybranch?

Thanks again for replies. This is very helpful. Agree Nannynick that the chilminding rates will be very similar here.
Luckylou, I'm in Loughton.

its great that you offer lots of time off but that doesnt pay bills

so in answer to your original question, no i wouldnt accept a job with less money, but more time off as couldnt afford to

the only way you could do this would be to have either a young person wanting to gain experience (and you have lovely ages to do this) or someone from a nursery wanting to get into nannying - tho both would have to be under 22 because of nmw

you are unlikly to find an older more experienced nanny for this - even those who want to bring their own child would want more than you can offer

have you included childcare vouchers into the total amount?

ie get an ofsted registered nanny

think it is £243 a month - if both of your employers did the scheme that would be nearly £500 towards the nanny's wages

this does still come out of your wages, but the tax is different

sure nick would be able to explain the savings you would make

yes, we both take childcare vouchers and have banked up a fair bit too whilst I have been on Maternity leave.

My son's nursery cost about £250 pcm for every afternoon 1-6, this takes into account the govt funding for 3/4 year olds, and it is an excellent and very reasonable priced nursery. Really wouldn't want to take my son out of there as he thrives there, and it is really the only place he'll eat (another story). I think the nusery is good value.

Then I have approx £250 for the rest of the childcare. I am becoming resigned to the fact I will have to spend some more.
I earn more money, DH earns about £1250 4weekly and then pays £250 in CSA money so puts into our pot about £1k ..

I know financially it would make sense for him to give up work but after discussing it we feel that it is not an option. Once he had left it would be difficult to get back in, the job has some promotion prospects coming up around the time of the olympics and also DH would lose a very good pension. Then we would have to pay the CSA money from my wages as I would feel this is the right thing to do. Plus I'm just not sure that DH is a SAHD type of guy - not all men are I guess.

It is really difficult to come up with something that works financially and gives us some quality family life. I can't go back to opposing shifts with minimal childcare again because of the sleep deprivation, plus it was far too unsettling for DS. It is really difficult isn't it!

I'd consider it, but then I'm 20 and not yet qualified. If you were closer to me I'd probably defnately consider it just because I'm desperate for a temporary job tbh.

I think I will give it a try, and perhaps find somebody inexperienced. Either that or up the childcare budget and perhaps revert to interest only mortgage until DS starts school.....

Sorry, would consider the four days, not 5.

Shame Pixinanny - I'm only 26 myself so that age doesn't bother me - providing person was capable, responsible and the gut instinct said yes then I think I would be happy to give a chance to a 20 year old.

Well, it is a good sign anyway that someone else might go for it. And I still have a few months to look.

theres nothing wrong with 20yr olds

we all used to be them once - at 18 i was sole charge 11hrs a day , 5 days a week to a 4mth and 5yr

they freely admited they choose me as couldnt afford an older nanny

if they hadnt given me that chnace i wouldnt be in the jobs i am in now and be able to ask for what salary i get

you can get sensible early 20's and dappy 30+'s

You normally have to pay more, not less, for flexible hours.

I think you would prob find someone for that. AS long as you don't mind someone in their first nanny job....maybe an au pair who wants to move into nannying or someone finishing childcare at college. As a nanny with my own child when I went back into nannying I would probably have accepted this too.

Offer as many perks as you can and be as flexible as possible. Be friendly and kind. For lots of young nannies (especially those still living at home) money isn't ALWAYS the most important part of the job.

Good luck

what about a single mum with child she would get working tax credits to top her earnings up, plus some couple actually get working tax if they are both on low incomes

Blondes: O_O I couldn't have done that at 18, I was mature, but not mature enough Right now I'm after any job in Clacton, however my bosses have pushed my leaving date back as the replacement they had lined up got another job. You'd think that by now, having had nannies and au pairs for the entirety of their children's lives, that they'd understand the concept of having two or three lined up!

Just popped onto my local netmums childcare... there's a nanny in the next town, 10 mins drive. Her current charge has started school and the current family want to keep her for school pick up, so she's looking for something to fit in with that family.
This is a nanny share isn't it? I'm going to email once DCs are in bed and put the idea to her.

Only a share if they care for your children and their current child at the same time. If there is no time at which nanny will care for all children at the same time, then it is two employments. That's my understanding of it.

I get a higher wage because I get lots of time off. But that's something agreed between me and my bosses.

citybranch - did you email?get a reply?

and yes if the nanny doesnt have both of your children together then isnt a nanny share but 2 nanny jobs as nick said