The 22,000 nannies

NANNIES in central London are receiving inflation-busting rises and ever more impressive perks because of a nationwide shortage, a survey reveals today.

Parents are now paying their daily nannies an average salary of 22,000 a year in the capital. That is a 10 per cent rise on last year and a marked increase on the 15,000 average wage in 1997.

Nannies are also being offered increasingly lavish extras. Mobile telephones with free calls are now considered an essential tool of the trade.

Other perks include a chauffeur, private healthcare, gym membership, use of a country cottage and unlimited free use of the employer's horse. One newly-qualified

nanny from the North of England was offered exclusive use of a houseboat in Chelsea, while another was offered four free flights to Europe each year- aboard her employer's private jet.

Outside central London, pay is lower, but rising even more sharply, according to the survey published tomorrow in Nursery World magazine.

A daily nanny in outer London and the Home Counties earns on average 17,752, up 14 per cent on 1999, it has found in its annual supplement Professional Nanny.

Elsewhere in Britain, nannies in towns are paid on average 15,000, while those in the countryside get 14,000 - a 30 per cent rise for both groups since 1998.

Nursery World editor Liz Roberts said pay was being forced up by a shortage of qualified and experienced nannies across the country.

"There is a national shortage of child carers of all sorts and parents are asking for increas-i n g l y f l e x i b l e w o r k i n g arrangements to fit in with their own," she said. "Because of that, many would-be nannies might choose to work in a nursery instead, where they can arrive and leave at more or less the same time every day and are unlikely to be asked to work unsocial hours."

The survey questionnaire was put to more than 60 of Britain's biggest nanny agencies, responsible for placing thousands of nannies each year, and a database of more than 3,000 clients held by Nan- nytax, a leading payroll service for nannies and their employers.

Karen Murphy, of Ideal Nannies agency in Hammersmith, estimated that a qualified nanny could expect to earn more than the survey suggested.

She said that a 25,000a-year salary with a car and a mobile phone thrown in was no longer

uncommon."It's not just changing nappies, it's a full-time job," she said.

"A daily nanny will work usually from 8am to 6pm or 7pm, and does everything with the children, including their cooking, washing and ironing.

It's professional, it's long hours, and if you do a good job you should get a good salary."

She knew of one nanny who was given a chauffeur-driven car as part of her package.

Changing Rooms designer-Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen reckons his nanny has become part of the family.

They always take her on holiday with them, although she does have to spend some time entertaining charges Hermione and Cecile in between afternoons on the beach.

Not all celebrities want a nanny. Victoria and David Beckham said from the start they were determined to bring up baby Brooklyn themselves despite hectic schedules.

SOME OF THE PERKS

In addition to their salary and "essential" mobile phone with free calls, some London nannies enjoy benefits such as: lprivate healthcare lgym membership la car la chauffeur luse of a country house lunlimited use of employer's horse lfree flights

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