Cost of nannies and family life in north or south London

[Motherhood12345]

My husband is a long-haul pilot and I'm a corporate lawyer. He communtes from nothern England to Heathrow, and we're considering a move to London. Areas were currently looking at are Muswell Hill / Crouch End and Herne Hill / Dulwich. We're focusing on areas that have good state schools, and a safe neighbourhood feel.

We have three young children (newborn, 2 and 4) and a dog.

We currently have help from my parents where we live but will have no family support if we move to London.

If we move, I'll get a new job and my salary will increase (London weighting).

We're looking at the cost of hiring a live-out or live-in nanny or au pair, and whether we can currently justify the move given the cost of paying a nanny / extra childcare.

Would anyone be willing to give us a guide on how much they pay for their nannies in the areas mentioned above? We're looking to buy a four bedroom house, so a live-in nanny may be a bit of a squeeze but we could make it work if the two older children shared a room for the moment, which I think they'd enjoy while still young.

You're probably looking at 35K live in and 50K live out once tax etc is included.

Contact a nanny agency

Here is a link to The Lady....they have jobs listed and jobs wanted and also shows names of various agencies. Might be worth a look to start with.
https://jobs.lady.co.uk/?page=0&title=14&loc=London,%20Greater%20London,%20UK&coord=51.5073%20-0.127647&dist=150&=51.5073%20-0.127647

Thanks, this is very helpful.

Is his work located at Heathrow? If so, I wouldn't choose those areas you've listed because his commute to Heathrow will take ages. London is very big you've chosen locations which do not have good transport links to the centre, let alone to Heathrow.
It would be much better to look at locations along the Elizabeth Line or Piccadilly Line for a direct commute to Heathrow.

Agree with @Denekewhat about Hampton or maybe Walton on Thames if he flies out of Heathrow.

Also don’t underestimate the huge value and flexibility of family support. We have none (east London) and it’s a bit of a nightmare even with only one child.

Have you thought about the Home Counties? High Wycombe, beaconsfield and Gerard’s Cross are all on the chiltern line- about 25 mins to London . Driving to Heathrow would be under an hour.

god, don’t live in High Wycombe, it’s an absolute shit hole. Beaconsfield is much nicer, marlow even better.

Herne Hill isn’t actually that bad - Thameslink up to Farringdon then onto Elizabeth line. Also very good links to the city for OP.

Definitely don't live in Dulwich or Herne Hill if he works at Heathrow. Try west of Ealing or Windsor.

I live in Crouch End and I had a full time nanny for my children until recently. Her rate is £20ph gross plus private pension.
Crouch End is an amazing community, my children are now in primary school at Coleridge and I am very happy with the school (plus there’s no uniform!!). There’s also tons of extra curricular activities in close proximity (eg Coolhurst tennis club) and loads of parks. I love raising a family here.

I think this is on the lower end of what you should budget

One thing to keep in mind with a 4-bedroom house, if you’re considering a live-in nanny, is that many homes effectively have only three good-sized bedrooms and one very small bedroom. Unless you’re lucky, it can be difficult to find four equally sized bedrooms. We’ve been looking for quite a while and are still struggling to find a house with four genuinely good-sized bedrooms.

Hello! My husband’s a short haul LGW based pilot and I’m a corporate lawyer 🙋‍♀️ we had 3 under 3, oldest now 7. We live in north london, about 10mins from Crouch End. Because of how far we are from LGW, my husband is away 3/4 nights a week,
so probs not dissimilar to LH.

We have no family support here and we had one year when all three were in nursery, it was around £4k a month and they were in 730-630pm 5 days a week. Most of the drop offs/pick ups fell to me and I made sure my job was flexible enough to deal with it.

my friend and her husband (both in house) who had 3 under two were spending around £5.5k a month on a nanny in Muswell Hill. Their jobs didn’t have the flex so they needed to spend more as longer than nursery hours (plus associated costs of having a nanny).

feel free to DM if you want!