After school nannies do an important role, they are the face at the school gate that your child sees every day, they guide your child through the ups and downs of school life, and help your child make friends through play dates and park meet ups. They may also be required to chaperone your little ones to various extra curricular activities outside of school before ensuring they eat a healthy evening meal and then bathe and settle them ready for bed with stories ready for your return home. After school nannies are not babysitters, or just a ‘safe pair of hands’ to collect your child from school. After school nannies, or ‘wrap around care nannies’ are looking after your precious child or children with all of the additional duties and responsibilities in place of a parent, so it is incredibly important to get the right person for the role as they are an integral part of your family.
Salary
The average salary for a before and after school nanny is £10-14 net per hour. (This is the figure the Nanny takes home), you will then need to pay tax and Ni on top. Plus, you will still have employer responsibilities such as contract of employment, wage slips, holiday etc. Please refer to our website: https://www.bellesandbeausnannyagency.co.uk/about for further guidelines on employer responsibilities.
If you are seeking an experienced, qualified nanny, you will need to consider the following:
Hours:
Most nannies want full days, which equates to 40 to 50 hours per week. Part time nannies would prefer their hours to be grouped into 2 or 3 days, so 20 to 30 hours rather than spread over 5 days mornings/afternoons. So, as you can see, the pool of availability is slim, so you need to make your job attractive as you have a lot of competition.
How many hours do you need to offer?
If you want long term, you need to pay enough so that the nanny can meet her living costs, all year, this includes when you’re on holiday too! A viable nanny job ideally needs to pay a minimum of £250 net per week, this equated to 25 hours at £10 net per hour or 20 hours at £12 net per hour. Finding a nanny to cover after school hours only can be a difficult task, however, the more hours you can provide, the easier your job will be to fill . Finding another job that fits in with school hours will be impossible. (unless you are prepared to consider a Nanny share). Also bear in mind that you may also need full time in the holidays, making it even harder to find a job that will fit in.
How can you boost the hours? Consider offering additional hours for your Nanny to cover extra duties. This could include the children’s laundry, bedrooms, diary management, batch cooking etc. When the children arrive home, the nannies time will be spent focused on the children. please bear in mind that nannies do not want to become cleaners taking on the whole household cleaning and laundry, however this arrangement is child focused, and should therefore be mutually acceptable if a nanny was happy to do the extra hours.
Holiday cover
hours do not alter during holidays. Most nannies want (and need) the holiday hours, plus this a great boost in hours to make the role more viable and appealing.
Nannies with own children
This is a good solution for part time hours, the nanny will bring their own child to your house and care for their own child alongside yours. The salary is usually a little less, in the region of £9-10 net per hour, although due to demand, it is becoming higher at the £10-11 net per hour. Most nannies have high chairs and double buggies etc, but this is something to discuss at interview. The nanny will keep to your child’s routine, but with the addition of their child.
Nursery duties Nursery duties in full time roles are expected, but with such limited hours this is not possible in before and after school roles. If you want a happy nanny and happy kids, my advice would be to allow the nanny to concentrate on the children not the housework in the limited time available. Although they will of course tidy up after the children and meals.
Contract
If you offer a casual arrangement, paying the nanny as and when you need her, she will leave for a more stable job, so don’t be surprised if she gets poached at the school gates! Nannies also need the stability and the assurance they have enough hours to pay their bills.
Annualised contract If you need full time cover in the holidays, offering an annualised contract will also make the role more appealing as you will be adding together the shorter-term time hours with the full-time holiday hours, which will make it easier for the Nanny to manage their finances. Calculate this based on a 52-week contract and don’t deduct your family holidays. You need to think of this arrangement the same as you would a nursery placement, you are paying to secure the cover, whether you need it or not.
Don’t cut the nannies hours. (or keep changing them!)
As soon as you start cutting hours or changing hours to accommodate a change in your routine, is when a nanny will start looking for a new role. Contracts go both ways; the nanny is also trusting you to provide the hours and terms discussed at interview and in the contract provided.
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