23 January 2008
A full-time nanny costs London parents £33,000 a year
Jonathan Prynn
Consumers Affairs Editor
The Evening Standard
The cost of employing a full-time nanny in London has rocketed, with their average salaries passing the £30,000 mark for the first time.
In central London, wages jumped 14 per cent from £28,786 to £33,179 last year according to a survey published today.
With employers’ national insurance on top the total bill could be £37,425. to pay that a family would need to earn £62,375 before tax.
The jump in costs is being blamed on higher demand from City professionals looking for flexible full-time childcare and a shortage of fully trained professional nannies. The soaring cost of living in London has also contributed.
Andrew Myers, managing director of nanny payroll consultancy Nannytax, which carried out the survey, said: “There’s been a change in attitude towards childcare. What people want now is a fully qualified professional.” More than 90 per cent of british nannies now have a Criminal Records Bureau check and 28 per cent are signed up to the Ofsted Childcare Register.
Kate Barker, director of Clapham based Abbeville Nannies, said: “People have less faith in full-time nurseries and see employing a nanny as worthwhile.” Many of the best qualified nannies are now from eastern European countries, replacing the Australians following a change in working visa terms that allowed them to work for only one year, she said.
Louise Kirk, 28, a nanny with 10 years’ experience, said: “I’m really pleased nannies are becoming more respected. It’s a hard job.”