Rise in popularity of after-school nannies
Friday, February 26, 2016
Hiring a live-in nanny is ‘considerably cheaper’ than employing a nanny who lives outside the family home, although demand for live-in nannies is falling, a new survey finds.
Demand for part-time and after-school nannies remains the highest of any type of nanny job, which the survey says is contributing to live-out nannies working an average of 34 hours a week, compared to 48 hours for live-in nannies.
Research by the payroll agency Nannytax has found that there has been ‘a substantial rise’ in the cost of a live-out nanny in central London from £32,020 in 2014 to £34,554 a year in 2015.
However, it is now more expensive to hire a live-in nanny in Greater London or the Home Counties at £23,795 a year, than it is to hire one in Central London at £21,604 a year.
The findings are based on responses to the 2015 Annual Wages Survey from more than 400 nannies, 770 nanny employers and 60 nanny agencies.
Nanny pensions
The survey also found that there has been a rise in awareness and understanding regarding the new legislation for pension auto-enrolment among employers, nannies and nanny agencies.
Automatic enrolment for all employees to a new workplace pension is being gradually phased in by the Pensions Regulator, but by 2017 all nanny employers will need to provide a pension scheme for their nanny.
Nanny agencies report that more would-be nanny employers are aware of the new pensions legislation and are questioning its impact on them.
In this year’s survey, 97 per cent of nanny agencies were aware of auto-enrolment.
In the 2014 survey only 16 per cent Nannytax’s clients knew when the pension needed to be in place, compared to 69 per cent this year.
More nannies are also becoming aware of their right to a pension - last year 30 per cent of nannies had heard of auto enrolment compared to 60 per cent this year.
Nicola Terry of Nannytax said, ‘It is encouraging to see from this year's results that more nannies, employers and agencies are aware and getting prepared for the introduction of workplace pensions. Whilst it can seem like a daunting prospect to sort out the nanny pension with enough time and information we have found that both employers and nannies are feeling the benefit of the new scheme.’
