22/01/2009

London nannies have suffered the first fall in their wages for years as families in the capital tighten their belts in the credit crunch, a report shows.

The number of full-time positions has hit an all time low, agencies say, forcing even the most experienced nannies to patch together a series of part-time jobs with baby-sitting on top to make ends meet.

The situation in the capital is now so bad that nannies are being strongly advised to roll up their sleeves and offer to do the housework as well as care for children if they want to hang on to their positions.

Many nannies take a strict view of their duties and refuse to do any washing up or laundry for the parents, even though they are in the house all day.

news from www.inthenews.co.uk

Daily nannies in the capital, who enjoyed an average 14 per cent pay rise in 2007, saw their salaries fall by four per cent last year. The average salary was £31,203 or £449 a week, compared with £33,179 the year before. The research was conducted by the Nannytax agency which processes the tax and national insurance for thousands of nannies. The last fall in nannies’ wages, which was just 0.5 per cent, was recorded five years ago.

Live-in nannies saw a smaller fall of 2.13 per cent in their salaries, down to £23,525.

Agencies say there is now little prospect of gym membership, use of a car or any other perks that, until recently, were the norm.

Kate Baker, director of Abbeville Nannies in Battersea, said that while there were still plenty of part-time positions available, there were virtually no full-time jobs which was putting heavy downward pressure on wages.

“Salaries have certainly dipped for full-time positions. There are so few of these around now that many nannies are having to patch together a full-time job from a couple of part-time positions, which is obviously less than ideal. That means the few parents who are looking for full-time nannies can control the market a bit more. After all, they are getting twice the number of applications as a year ago,” she said.

Ms Baker, who set up her agency eight years ago, said the credit crunch had also seen an end to perks that were previously used by parents to lure the best nannies to come and work for them.

“When we started up, some nannies would say they wouldn’t even consider a job without a car thrown in. Now, they don’t even ask if it’s a possibility. The same goes for gym membership,” she said.

Outside London, salaries have held up with nannies in the Home Counties seeing a modest 1.6 per cent pay rise, and those in cities other than the capital a 4.75 per cent pay rise. However salaries outside London are far less generous at about £23,000.

Asa Nilsdotter of Nannytax advised nannies not to hold out for those elusive full-time positions, and to offer to help with the housework if they wanted to stay in a good job.

“In these circumstances nannies should not only be prepared to adopt a more flexible approach to how their working week is structured. With agencies reporting an increase in requests for combined nanny and house management duties, nannies would do well to consider a wider range of tasks,” she said.

“Nannies who refuse to perform duties outside their typical childcare responsibilities may be less successful in the current market.”

Case study: Evening baby-sitting supplements nanny income

Sue Kearton is not the sort of nanny who has to wait around for a good job to come along. With years of experience and a CV showing long placements with the families she has worked for, the 46-year old New Zealander is more used to being snapped up pretty quickly when she sends out her CV.

So she wasn’t too worried when a job she loved came to an end last spring after the mother was made redundant. But she has struggled to find the sort of job she wants ever since and has had to settle for after-school hours with a Battersea family whose two daughters are both at school.

“I love the family I am with now, but the hours are 7am to 9am and then 2pm to 7pm, so I am trying to make up the rest of the money with baby-sitting. That means I have not many evenings free,” she told The Times.

“I have been nannying for 19 years and last year I noticed it had got very, very difficult to find a position. It’s not just me. My nanny friends are all in the same boat. When my job came to an end last year there were just no jobs for the hours I wanted. I like to go to a family with young children and then stay with them until they go to school. Ideally it would be four day week with 12-hour days. But there is just nothing around.”

| Search News | Search For Jobs | Pro rata salary calculator | Careers | Email to a friend