Russian Client Offers British Nanny An Annual Salary Of $200,000

By Robert Frank of the Wall Street Journal

If you think Linda Evangelista is over-paying for child care in New York, imagine what she would be paying in London.

According to an article in The Times of London by Fiona Neill, the mega-rich Russians, Sheikhs and Chinese pouring into London in recent years have jacked up the cost of a British nanny. A British staffing agency called Imperial Nannies cited a Russian client who wanted to poach a nanny from another family. Their salary offer: $200,000 a year.

Then there was the Imperial Nanny client with three kids who employed a nanny for each child — at around $130,000 a year.

(Read more: Top five places to find the rich and single)

These aren’t the norm, of course. More typical in Britain are salaries of $75,000 a year – with free room and board. Usually that means a “a flat that is self-contained or on a separate floor, or at least a room with en-suite bathroom — in a desirable Central London borough, and almost always includes a car,” according to the article.

Some British nannies specify that they only fly business class — though many have use of the family planes. One nanny was given a new wardrobe by her Italian employer, while another was given a house by her Saudi patrons.

(Read more: Why are million-dollar earners vanishing?)

According to Imperial, the financial crisis hasn’t hurt demand for top nannies, because they super-rich haven’t been effected by the crisis. (Which is what staffing agencies always say, true or not). The big demand is for teachers-turned-nannies, who can help the kids with increasingly demanding school work.

Yet according to a British “manny” named “Nick,”all that costly coddling can be better for the nannies than the rich kids. The wealthy parents, he said, give too little time and attention to their kids.

Read the entire post at the Wall Street Journal

Comments

[joni brit]

05:04 PM on 08/24/2011

a good nanny is the best investment a mother can make if she wants to keep working while her children are young,and worth every penny. Do not undermine how difficult it is to find a good nanny and how many women with children live in cities and are without family, and that nannie takes up a huge chunk of their salary, but that's just the way it has to be. The balancing act is more difficult than running any country, with or without a nannie.

[MSROADKILL612]

05:40 AM on 08/24/2011

They should focus more on real life skills.

How to clean a bong properly, where to sell an heirloom for a a fair price so you can score decent stuff & not get ripped off. How to talk the talk so u r not just some rich sucker from the burbs.

How to spot gold diggers cos they are an easy lay.

How not to let party invites go viral

Dont push start your car with another at the wheel, your mates may take off w/o you.

No lemon guns to be fired in the house (do u guys in the us have them - they are awesome) - its been known to happen here in oz.

Always wipe the mud off dads maserati after rallying in it

do not mount the hired help, its always problematic.

How to cope with an old man who answers the front door of a waterfront mansion wearing nothing but a hair net and a suspicious look - seriously - a mate grumbles about it.

The really cool thing is asking poor people along for some pretentious event like aspen & borrowing their credit card just to pay for some trifle like a helicopter ride, & then stiffing them. The chaps at the club will love that one.

[MSROADKILL612]

04:49 AM on 08/24/2011

In days of yore, nanny was a pensionable retainer. They lived on the estate til they died. When one visited home during the oxford hols, one first checked in on nanny.

mum was a farm girl, but we lived as expats where help was v affordable - she tried it for a while, but found it more bother than its worth. Shattered emotional attachments may have been part of it.

running a household staff is not something you learn in one generation (& why would you want to anyway - what a hassle)

The nuevaux rich should keep it simple, especially as its easy to become nuveaux poor it seems.

[MysAnthrope]

09:22 PM on 08/23/2011

Waving newly, uhm... updated... nanny resume here!

[MysAnthrope]

09:20 PM on 08/23/2011

200 grand??

[random bear]

06:12 PM on 08/23/2011

Wait, there's actual money to be had in child care?! Damn.. I should get out my current field.

[Ainsi sera groigne qui]

05:15 PM on 08/23/2011

Nanny Poaching

Some posted down thread that she or he didn't think nanny stealing went on; oh but it DOES.

Women have always tried to steal another's domestic help (maid, cook, nanny etc) and it still goes on today. It is not uncommon for a good nanny (or even not so good by a desparate mother), to be approached at the playground or on a play date - anywhere out of ear shot of her employer (a card slipped into a hand on the sly whilst the mistress of the house has her back turned) offering a *better" position.

Desperate Housewives even worked this into an episode where the woman with those three devil boys (cannot remember her name), asked "Bree" how to "score some high quality nanny", that is how she steal one from another household. So off she goes to a local playground to hunt a girl down. Sadly she brings back a young and rather nubile girl and at once feels uncomfortable having the new nanny in the house, that and her children begin to choose the nanny over her. So in the end she sabotaged the poor girl to get shot of her.

[MSROADKILL612]

04:51 AM on 08/24/2011

ta for sharing a great plotline

[MSROADKILL612]

03:41 PM on 08/23/2011

One of the smartest guys I ever knew, never went to school. he was the last of the private tutor brigade. The family just did their thing - skiing, yachting, travel - & the tutor tagged along.

[Patriot28]

03:36 PM on 08/23/2011

If a woman is in poverty, she can't afford a nanny. It seems that money is more important than raising your own children. If it's absolutely necessary to work, grandparents are good if available.
A family can adjust to one salary. They just don't need what the Jones' have.
Since it has become the thing for both parents to work, there has been more crime and loose morals in children.'
Children are our greatest commodity = take care of yours.

[McKMN]

03:56 PM on 08/23/2011

Become the thing????? How long has it been since you retired from the workforce?

[nannygoverness]

03:26 PM on 08/23/2011

These prices aren't crazy. At ENGS we've had some clients with exorbitant salaries. Not to say we don't have the normal range of 45-75k, but many of the 'elite' demand quality, educated professionals that speak impeccable english, and not just be babysitters to the kids. To them, its almost a necessity because they are away from the home so often, that the normal play time, cooking and child development has to fall to someone else. A few people pay a quarter of a million for a good nanny/governess, just so they absolutely know their kid is learning what they need and being taken care of.

[MSROADKILL612]

03:22 PM on 08/23/2011

My sister was nanny for the chianti family in italy - has fond memories - lavish holidays & got very chummy with the family.

[TheNewShadeofBlue]

03:19 PM on 08/23/2011

Anyone looking for a "Manny". I can do everything a nanny can with the addition of sports, auto repair, dog care, painting, carpentry and feng shui.

[ignacio sanabria]

10:07 AM on 08/23/2011

Rich people have kids so nannies can raise them, for a fee of course. Poor people have kids so the welfare system supports them.

[Ben6768]

02:04 PM on 08/23/2011

vaya comentario mas tonto

[Andra Claudia Garcia]

07:06 PM on 08/23/2011

So, nobody is supporting kids? Because, the middle class is now a figment of our imagination.

[CarlyQ]

09:59 AM on 08/23/2011

And here in Canada we pay our immigrant nannies minimum wage, with expectations they clean, cook, do laundry, and all the rest of the housekeeping duties. No car. No perks.

[CocoAnn]

09:49 AM on 08/23/2011

I never hear such a BS as "More typical in Britain are salaries of $75,000 a year – with free room and board"... It just doesn't add up - yes there is free room and board but the salaries are so inflated.....

[McKMN]

04:05 PM on 08/23/2011

By who's standard?

[Ainsi sera groigne qui]

04:49 PM on 08/23/2011

Oh I don't know.

Registered Nurses here in NYC range from $70,000 to $73.000 on average. In some other areas of the country such as California it can be higher still. OTHO I personally know of more than a handful of maids here in NYC that pull down >60K per year in cash (off the books). Some have been with a family for years.

At least in the UK/Europe historically domestic servants were always housed, fed and clothed at their owner's expense. This applies to anyone working in a royal palace to a home in Sloane Square. Indeed one of the reasons the British aristocracy "down sized" their estates/homes was the financial drain caused by providing for all those servants. And that was when help was not so dear. The "servant problem" over the years has driven up the costs for good domestic help. So few persons wish to do the jobs that those whom are well suited and good at it can and do often earn very good money.