How much to pay a nanny?

[Winnie]

Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone can help. We live in a small market town in Wiltshire and are about to start searching for a Nanny. We have no experience of employing a Nanny (although I was one for six months after leaving school!),and therefore we have no idea of what to pay. Any ideas? London rates seem enormous! Unfortunately we don't know of anyone who employs a Nanny in this area. Obviously we want to be fair but equally we have to be realistic with regard to our own incomes. We'd appreciate any tips on finding the right Nanny, Thanks in advance

Hi Winnie

As you are in a small market town, it's probably better to find a local agency, and finding out what the going rates are in your area - as they will differ from London rates. You can also search some of the Nanny job sites - for example:

www.tinies.co.uk/nanniesandchildcarers/jobs.html

www.jobs.nursery-world.com/

When searching, just pretend you are a Nanny looking for a job - after all, you were a Nanny once!

I've done a quick job search and have found that rates West of London seem to vary between £180 and £275 a week, for a Daily Full-Time Nanny (these are NETT figures - taken from www.Tinnies.co.uk)

You need to decide what type of Nanny you want, for example - do you need a Live-In, or a Daily? Do you need Full-Time or Part-Time. Or are you wanting a Mother's Help?

(The Tinies site has lots of info about choosing the right kind of nanny - and no, I don't work for Tinies... just a satisfied client of theirs).

Just remember, that the amount you pay the nanny, is not all the costs involved. There is Tax, National Insurance, other Insurance (such as car insurance), as well as providing Food, Heating, Lighting etc.

For info on the Tax side of things, www.nannytax.co.uk provide a good service - though it's not cheap.

Hope that helps a little.

Nick Mitchell NNEB
(an ex-nanny now working for a children's toy company)
Mail me for more info if needed: [email protected]

Thanks Nick. The information you provided has been a great help.

Hi
My lovely nanny - part of a three way share, different days, noy three kids at once! - has just announced that having done a year she'd like a payrise to £350 from £300 a week. We pay tax and NI on top, so even sharing it all mounts up I don't want to be mean and I don't want to lose her but it's nearly a 15% payrise - more than even MP's are getting?? Or is that the going rate in central London?

CL, I contacted two Nanny agencis recently (like you, due to ever increasing pay demands) and was told that the benchmark for a live out, experienced Nanny in central London for a 50 hour week was £350 net of £512 gross. However, both of these were relativley "upmarket" agencies and it applied to a fully qualified and very experienced Nanny. That's £26,624 gross which must equal something like £37,000 pre tax of your own income - shocking isn't it???.

Having said that, a 15% pay rise seems excessive. I would suggest a compromise.