Salaries for live-in nannies decline

The nanny benchmark survey by payroll company Nannytax shows that the average salary of live-in nannies outside London and the Home Counties fell from £22,118 a year in 2013 to £18,707 in 2014, a 15 per cent drop.

A central London live-in nanny's annual salary fell by 8.56 per cent from £24,614 to £22,507, the largest year-on-year decrease for these nannies since the survey began in 2005.

Live-in nannies in Greater London and the Home Counties also saw their salaries fall by an average of 3.49 per cent in 2014.

While nanny agencies claim to have seen reduced demand for live-in nannies since 2011, they say this is the first time that this has been reflected in salaries.

The figures, based on data provided by 480 nannies, 954 nanny employers and 76 nanny agencies, also show that the rate of pay for live-out (daily) nannies in central London has fallen from a peak of £34,941 in 2013 to £32,020 in 2014. This means that on average, nannies in central London are earning less now than they did in 2007, when their salaries were £33,179.

In contrast, the salaries of daily nannies in Greater London and the Home Counties and the rest of the UK have increased slightly.

According to the survey, the wages of daily nannies in Greater London and the Home Counties rose by just 0.36 per cent on the previous year, to £30,687.

Nannytax attributes this change to the increase in house prices in inner London, which it says has pushed some families with nannies out to the suburbs. Daily nannies in the rest of the UK also saw their annual salaries increase from an average of £25,554 in 2013 to £26,626 in 2014, a rise of 4.19 per cent.

Ofsted registration

The survey indicates that the number of nannies registering with Ofsted has continued to fall year on year. In 2012, 73 per cent of nannies had registered with Ofsted as opposed to 64 per cent last year. The majority of those who did not register (58 per cent) said it was because their employer did not require them to.

Of those who did register with Ofsted, 77 per cent said they only did so at the request of their employer. According to the data, just over half of employers either paid for their nanny's registration or contributed towards it.

Social media

For the first time, Nannytax looked at the use of social media among nannies.

Three-quarters (75 per cent) of employers said they did not have a social media agreement in place with their nanny. This is despite more than a quarter indicating that they did not want the nanny to share information about their job and family.

Seventeen per cent of employers said they had never discussed the issue with their nanny. Nanny employers under the age of 30 were more likely to have a social media agreement.

When nannies were asked about social media, 27 per cent reported having an agreement in place with their employer, while 32 per cent stated that they would not share any information about their work online.

Kirsty Wild, marketing manager at Nannytax, said, 'The research highlights the gap between a family's desire for online privacy on sites such as Facebook and the desperate lack of planning to ensure nannies are aware of the boundaries.

'Very worrying is the nanny employers who clearly stated they would not allow their nanny to share any information about their work on social media, but have no agreement in place to determine this. We'd advise that all families discuss and formally sign an agreement with their nannies to outline what information and images of their family can, or can't, be posted online to avoid future conflict.'