Looking for affordable housing, nursery nurse

schessilibam

Hey everyone,
one of my colleagues mentioned that she is renting a property for her family and that she is getting a more affordable price because we are working as nursery nurses. So, I thought of a council flat to begin with, but there is nothing mentioned about particular "professions" having any advantages. Then I thought of Housing Associations, but that doesnt seem to be the case either.

Do any of you have an idea what she was talking about? I won't be seeing her in quite a while because she is working across different nurseries, and I would really like to know about it.

I work as a Nursery Nurse in a private nursery in St Johns Wood, Central London and I only earn 13.500 a year, and this makes it impossible to even rent a double room anywhere within reach of the nursery without having to pay 2/3 of my pay towards accomodation.. so I am really looking for ideas to save money on rent.

Thanks for any suggestions,
Jess

MrsManda

The only thing I've heard which is sounds similar is Key Worker Housing but that's to buy a house not rent.
Have a look at direct.gov.uk Key Worker Housing

There is something called Keyworker Rent which applies to London.

Shelter have a lot of information on the Key Worker Living Programme which may be helpful to you: KEY WORKER LIVING
http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/finding_a_place_to_live/Buying_and_selling/other_ownership_schemes/key_worker_living_programme

schessilibam

Thanks so much I am sure that was what she meant.

I had a look at the shelter website which was very helpful, I will try and research that with the housing associations, because the few housing association pages that I checked earlier didn't mention anything about this scheme.

I'll post the info I found later one if someone is searching for the same thing in future.

Thanks again!

Jowo_2

schessilibam wrote: »

...
I work as a Nursery Nurse in a private nursery in St Johns Wood, Central London and I only earn 13.500 a year, and this makes it impossible to even rent a double room anywhere within reach of the nursery without having to pay 2/3 of my pay towards accomodation.. so I am really looking for ideas to save money on rent.

Hopefully the key worker info will help

However, most people on low incomes can't afford to live near where they work in central London! To save money on rent, you need to live away from where you work. You should find plenty of cheaper accommodation a zone or three from your workplace but do factor in the zone card cost and do find a place where you don't have to change buses/trains/tubes.if you can.

The transport for London journey planner will help identify the journey times along the Jubilee, Metropolitan and Bakerloo tube lines that are handy for St Johns Wood, and the overland train from West or South Hampstead train station. For example, its just 41 mins to Watford, Herts.

The website will also provide travel costs. For example, a weekly bus ticket is around £16 so you could find cheaper accommodation along a direct bus route from your place of work and halve the cost of your rent by a bus journey of less than an hour. Find out where the buses on the main route next to the nursery go and research the areas and rents there.

You can double check your benefit entitlements on the Turn2us online benefit calculator and what the maximum LHA payable is for the City of Westminster to see if you are eligible for tax credits and LHA by checking with the LHA direct website for rates.

For example, the maximum shared room rate for those under 25 (will change to 35) is between £111 and £140 per week depending on which part of the City of Westminster borough it is in. Your income will substantially reduce this or wipe it out completely but do check on the Turn2us calculator.

For those aged 25 and over (will change to 35), the LHA rate for self contained accommodation is betwen £250 and £360 per week but the govt is bringing in a maximum cap to £250.

poppysarah

The easy thing to do is ask your friend who she rents from...

Nuttyneddy

I'm not sure that working in a private nursery counts as being a key worker. From the direct.gov.uk site:

social workers, nursery nurses, educational psychologists and therapists (eg occupational therapists) employed by local authorities, the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service or the NHS

or

teachers and nursery nurses in schools and further education or sixth form colleges

count as key workers.

schessilibam

Yes, I am aware of not being able to live in or any where near St Johns Wood, I am currently living in East Acton which on my ridiculous salary I can still barely afford tbh, as I am still studying with the OU I get a student discount on my travel card, but it is just impossible to live in most parts of London - where I would actually like to live... £936 after tax just doesn't go very far.. I just do not understand why people that bring up the nations future get paid so little that they can't even afford to have their own children. #rant over

I had a good read last night, and I found the same info.One site mentioned that you have to work in a maintained setting, which would be one that is run by the council. So we wouldn't count, but then I am wondering how she managed to get into the scheme. I might not see her for a few weeks because she covers many nurseries within the company, and we work nowhere near each other, so even if she was in I wouldn't know.

Well I noted a couple of phone numbers so I might just ring them, they will be able to tell me what the criteria are.

Jowo_2

http://www.housingoptions.co.uk/ho2/ho2/eligible.asp

Nursery Nurses

All applicants must:

• Hold the Diploma in Nursery Nursing or an alternative level 3 qualification appropriate for the care or development of children. A full list of suitable level 3 qualifications is available on the Department for Education and Skills Children's Workforce: Qualifications website.
• Be employed in a maintained early years school or nursery.

This organisation says it uses a different criteria than the Housing Options organisation above - "LSH provides accommodation for key workers and students. We define a key worker as anyone whose job supports the health and vibrancy of the local community."

http://www.londonstrategichousing.com/article.asp?id=975

http://www.londonstrategichousing.com/article.asp?id=977

BitterAndTwisted

Maybe a bit of lateral thinking is required. How many parents of your little charges might be prepared to offer a room in their (often massive) houses in return for evening and weekend babysitting? If their darlings are in a nursery that suggests to me that they might not have a live-in nanny or au pair.

Jowo_2

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Maybe a bit of lateral thinking is required. How many parents of your little charges might be prepared to offer a room in their (often massive) houses in return for evening and weekend babysitting? If their darlings are in a nursery that suggests to me that they might not have a live-in nanny or au pair.

There's the occasional 'wanted' or 'offered' ads on sites like the Gumtree, some of which sound pretty exploitative (long hours) and some that are downright sleazy ( the ads along the lines of 'free accommodation to open minded ladies who will give me a massage...').

The OP could place an ad on the Gumtree but is bound to get a few sleazy responses but for the genuine ones, get any agreements about hours/duties/bills/facilities/notice periods and house rules in writing to minimise disputes.

It's an option though it's not going to suit everyone - it's often much harder to live in the same property as a landlord and by the time you have a business relationship with them, too, possibly even harder.

It could work out because there is a mutual need being met but I bet the relationship/dynamics are hard to manage.

Realistically there is going to be a loss of freedom compared to conventional flatshares - the opportunity to get sloshed on wine watching the TV or have men visiting are going to be next to zero.

And even though hours/duties have been agreed before hand, there could always be last minute requests and the children may not understand why their nanny isn't there 24/7 for them.

Here's a sample 'wanted ad'.

http://www.gumtree.com/london/16/67924916.html

BitterAndTwisted

I wasn't for a moment suggesting that the OP find this sort of arrangement via Gumtree or anything like that. She already knows some of the parents of the darlings she looks after during her working day and they were the people who I though she could perhaps canvas.

In the dark and dismal past I know someone who had this very sort of arrangement for pretty well-off but time-poor parents. She had her own self-contained accommodation in the family home in exchange for looking after two children on Saturdays and the odd evening mid-week. She was a live-out nanny for a different family in the same neighbourhood (Hampstead) from Monday to Friday. Both families knew each other and the arrangement worked very well. Plus, she earned a ruddy fortune with absolutely minimal outgoings. Lucky!