The conventional minimum hourly wage for a home nanny reaches €12.89 gross per hour at level A since June 1, 2026. In shared care, each family pays their share of this remuneration, but the exact distribution between co-families creates tensions as soon as the hourly volumes diverge. Finding a compatible co-family is not just about matching schedules: it involves aligning financial, geographical, and contractual constraints even before hiring the nanny.
Salary distribution between co-families: the point that no one negotiates early enough
Each family is a co-employer of the nanny. Two distinct employment contracts coexist, with two pay slips. The direct consequence: if one family needs 40 hours a week and the other 25 hours, the nanny cannot exceed 50 hours per week in total.
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This legal limit of 50 hours makes scheduling compatibility non-negotiable. We recommend establishing the exact hourly volumes from the first exchange with a potential co-family, before any discussion about educational values or location.
The qualification level of the nanny also influences the budget. A professional classified at level B earns a minimum of €13.08 gross per hour, which significantly alters the monthly bill for each family. Experienced profiles negotiate above these floors, and in shared care, the net ranges are significantly higher. Anticipating the salary positioning between co-families avoids blockages at the time of recruitment.
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Knowing how to find a co-family on Familles Connectées allows filtering families according to these hourly and geographical criteria from the outset, reducing the number of unproductive exchanges.
Co-family and shared care: contractual compatibility before personal affinities
The classic mistake is to look for a “nice” co-family before checking contractual feasibility. Two employment contracts mean two Pajemploi declarations, two calculations of paid leave, two managements of absences. If one family goes away for three weeks in August and the other for just one, the nanny ends up with a fragmented schedule and potentially a loss of salary that one of the families will have to compensate.
The contract must specify the leave arrangements before signing. We observe that co-families that formalize in writing the distribution of vacation weeks and the rules in case of the child’s illness stay together longer.
Points to align between co-families before recruiting:
- The weekly hourly volume of each family and the cumulative limit of 50 hours for the nanny, including foreseeable occasional overages
- The distribution of the nanny’s paid leave and the management of weeks when only one family needs care
- The primary care location and the potential alternation between the two homes, considering space and equipment constraints
- The targeted salary level (conventional floor or above) and the financial distribution key if the hours are asymmetrical
This framework prevents the common situation where a co-family discovers after three months that they are proportionally paying more than the other without it being formalized.
Shared care and mixed configurations: the new regulatory constraints of 2026
The 2026 rules on childcare modes more strictly regulate configurations where a family combines shared home care and care with a childminder on certain days of the week. These ceilings limit the hybrid arrangements that some co-families consider to cover days when one of them does not need care.
Specifically, if a co-family wants to send their child to a childminder on Wednesdays while maintaining shared care from Monday to Friday with the other family, the care ceilings may make this organization incompatible. We recommend checking the feasibility of any mixed configuration before committing to a co-family.
The additional birth leave, which comes into effect on July 1, 2026, also changes the search timeline. Families have more time before starting the search for a childcare arrangement. The peak in co-family searches shifts towards the end of this leave, concentrating demand on later periods in the year.
Filtering co-families by geographical proximity: the underestimated criterion
The nanny works alternately at each family’s home or exclusively at one of them. In both cases, the distance between the two homes determines the daily viability of the arrangement.
A journey of more than fifteen minutes between the two homes complicates alternating days. The nanny loses effective care time in transit, and the children undergo additional transitions. Looking for a co-family within a few streets remains the most functional scenario.
Posters in the neighborhood and local word-of-mouth remain effective, but matching platforms now allow filtering by postal code or geographical area. Specify in your ad the age of your child, the desired hours, and especially if you have already hired a nanny or not. A co-family that comes with their nanny and another that starts from scratch do not have the same level of initial commitment.
The first phone exchange should focus on hours, location, and budget. Questions about educational habits come later, once structural compatibility is confirmed. A co-family perfectly aligned on values but incompatible on hours will lead nowhere.