The legal minimum for a nanny aged 21 or over is £12.71 an hour from April 2026, up from £12.21 a year earlier (GOV.UK). In Nannytax's 2026 payroll data, the UK average nanny salary for a full-time live-out nanny is £45,656 a year gross, or £17.56 an hour.
Pay depends on the type of role, so here it is role by role, followed by what you actually take home.
Nanny salary UK by role
| Role | Typical pattern | Pay (gross) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily nanny (live-out) | About 50 hours a week | UK average £45,656 a year (£17.56 an hour). Inner London £56,238; Outer London and Home Counties £58,864 | Nannytax payroll data, 2026 |
| Live-in nanny | About 60 hours a week, room provided | £600 to £900 a week in London | One London nanny agency's 2026 guide |
| Rota nanny | Weeks on and weeks off, round-the-clock during working weeks | £60,000 to £75,000 a year | One nanny agency's guide |
| Night nanny | 12-hour nights | £270 to £380+ a night | Norland, 2026/27 guide |
| Maternity nurse | 24-hour, live-in, newborns | £300 to £400 per 24 hours | One London nanny agency's 2026 guide |
| Nanny-housekeeper | Childcare plus housework | Live-in £500 to £800 a week; live-out £13 to £20 an hour | One London nanny agency's guide |
| Temporary nanny | Day bookings | £230 to £350+ a day in London | Norland, 2026/27 guide |
These are guides, not official rates. The Nannytax salary guide is built from more than 10,000 payroll records; the other figures are agency ranges. Always check whether a figure is gross or net, and per hour, week or year.
For an official comparison, the ONS puts nannies and au pairs in one group. In its 2026 earnings survey (provisional), full-time employees in that group had a median of £38,698 gross for the year to April 2026, and a median of £16.84 gross an hour, on a median paid week of 44.3 hours. The ONS rates the yearly figure as acceptable and the hourly figure as reasonably precise; the survey covers employees, not the self-employed.
Norland nannies sit at the top of the market. The Norland salary guide starts first-year London daily nannies at £55,000 and rota nannies at £65,000, rising to £90,000+ and £95,000+ with experience. For live-in work, its London residential range is £46,800 to £78,000+ a year, based on 60 hours a week.
On rota pay, do the arithmetic: a weekly rate on a one-week-on, one-week-off pattern is paid for half the weeks of the year. Check whether a quoted figure is per working week or per year. For housekeeping pay, see our UK housekeeper salary guide. What a governess earns, and how au pair rules work: see au pair vs nanny vs governess.
What a nanny salary pays after tax
| Gross a year | Income tax | National Insurance | Take-home a year | Take-home a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £33,046 (minimum wage, 50 hours a week) | £4,095.20 | £1,638.08 | £27,312.72 | £2,276.06 |
| £40,000 | £5,486.00 | £2,194.40 | £32,319.60 | £2,693.30 |
| £45,656 (Nannytax UK average) | £6,617.20 | £2,646.88 | £36,391.92 | £3,032.66 |
| £50,000 | £7,486.00 | £2,994.40 | £39,519.60 | £3,293.30 |
| £60,000 | £11,432.00 | £3,210.60 | £45,357.40 | £3,779.78 |
The first row is the legal minimum over a 50-hour week: £12.71 × 50 × 52. Our figures assume a standard tax code, no pension and no student loan, using the 2026/27 income tax and National Insurance rates. Payroll works it out each pay period, so a real payslip can differ by a few pounds, and Scotland has different income tax bands.
If you're in a workplace pension, at least 5% of your qualifying earnings also comes out of your pay.
Gross or net? Get it in writing
Some offers are made as a net weekly or monthly figure. If you agree a net salary, the family pays whatever tax and National Insurance it takes to reach it, and your contract should still show the gross.
To put numbers on it: £30,000 a year net needs about £36,778 gross. On top of that, the family pays about £4,767 in employer National Insurance, which is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year, and about £916 in pension contributions, so that nanny costs the family about £42,461 a year. That's useful to know when you negotiate. Families can't use the Employment Allowance to reduce employer National Insurance on a nanny. Hiring? See our step-by-step guide to hiring a nanny.
Live-in nannies: the minimum wage still applies
A live-in nanny is entitled to the minimum wage, even if she's treated as one of the family. Members of the employer's own family living in the home are among those who aren't. How the rules compare in Spain and the US: see our live-in nanny guide.
If the room is free, only a set amount, £77.70 a week from April 2026, can count towards minimum wage pay (GOV.UK). So 60 working hours at £12.71 comes to £762.60 a week, and with a free room at least £684.90 of that must be paid in money, which is £35,614.80 a year. Check the hours against any live-in offer at the lower end of the ranges above.
You're also entitled to 5.6 weeks' paid holiday a year, which is at least 28 days for a five-day week.
What pushes nanny pay up
Location makes a big difference. Nannytax's figures put Inner London at £21.63 an hour and Outer London and the Home Counties at £22.64, against £14.78 in the North East and £14.00 in Northern Ireland. In between, the hourly averages run from £20.72 in the East of England and £20.24 in the North West to £16.52 in Scotland and £16.46 in Wales.
The type of role comes next: rota, maternity and night work pay more per day than daily nanny work. Beyond that, the Nannytax guide names experience, qualifications, responsibilities and hours as what moves pay. If you already run much of the household, see what a house manager does.
