Nanny and holidays

lm a nanny and standard is you split your holidays 50/50 and if you go over your holiday entitlement then it’s paid regardless. You can ask your nanny to come in to do child related chores however giving the nanny extra time off would be much appreciated by her. Nanny’s look after your pride and Joy so knowing you appreciate her hard work goes along way and extra paid time off deffo shows that ☺️

Basic employment law any employer can tell an employee when to take holiday as long as double notice given, i.e. if you want someone to take 2 days holiday you have to give 4 days notice.
I do this with some of team as otherwise we get a log jam. You wouldn't want to tell someone when to take all their holiday but its not solely in the employees choice

We did half and half choice for holidays but have a chat with her about it so both sides are clear on expectations. We told her dates that we knew we would definitely not need her, eg around Christmas time. She may know some days she needs off for weddings etc. The more notice the better for both sides. Sick pay our nanny was never off for more than a day at a time so we paid her the usual full day rate.

Ah right. Yes we paid for any extra hours, but we didn’t pay extra just for being away from family etc, it was part of the job. But we had known we’d need that help, so it was always in the contract!

Actually that's not right either. An employer can dictate when all holidays are taken, but obviously if you said that you wouldn't have a nanny any more!

That's what we always did too.

Right but even if she’s just there as an extra hand you’ll still have to pay her normal rates and all expenses. Many nannies actually prefer sole charge care rather than helping out with the parents as it’s easier for them to decide what to do/set boundaries without the parents there.

If you say you have a good relationship with her than just talk to her. It's already the midpoint of the year and if she hasn't booked any holidays in it's not unreasonable to ask her what her plans may be. If you are using a lot of your own holiday before September, then you are going to be really stuck if she decides to take all four weeks in October and November. Employees in all kinds of situations can be expected to make advance plans for holidays or have a minimum amount of notice to request time off.

When I was a nanny it was nanny picks two weeks, and the family picks two weeks. You need to give them lots of notice. Just be careful because a lot of time we just left when we couldn’t take leave when we wanted to. So you will need to weigh up how important it is to you.

Our nanny used to come with us on trips. We paid her standard rates, plus obviously covered all her flights, hotel, meals.

We also agreed to alter her hours for the trip, she liked to have the afternoons to go on trips/sunbathe etc and then she’d work in the evenings instead - she probably did an hour or two less than normal each day but we just paid her as normal.

Many jobs kind of dictate when employees take holidays, Nanny or otherwise. Look at the old factory fortnights. It’s pretty common. Our office closes for three days over Christmas, so we all have to book those days.

We always did 3 weeks her choice, 2 weeks our choice.

That's good.

i mean legally you could probably dictate when she takes her leave, but she can also give notice & move to a more reasonable family.

but it sounds like you & your nanny can sort this out between you. It's difficult though because even while she may see your point of view & accommodate you, she might also want you to see her point of view in wanting to keep some holiday for a time that actually suits her to do something she wants to do. Like she might want holiday later in the year to visit family/go to Christmas Markets/go skiing/ etc

It sounds like the contract states your nanny can take holiday when she likes, so she is entitled to do that and yes you'll need to pay it.

You could in future agree to.amend the contract so 10 days are to be taken an pre arranged dates ie last 2 weeks of Aug or another time with notice. If you are concerned she'll take all her holidays at the end of the year you could add a clause that 10 days need to be used by say 31st Aug.

You do have right to refuse dates that are impractical for you to cover but you still need to give her 20 days at some point.

I used to be made to take 2 weeks off at Christmas and I often get days off turned down if there aren't enough team members available.

Just have a chat about it as certainly you need notice when she's planning to be off so you can make alternate arrangements etc

It's 'usual' to have 50:50 on the dates with x amount of notice.

you can't 'make' your nanny choose her dates. No matter how convenient that would be.

in this case she has 10 days a year to choose for herself as long as she gives sufficient notice, though if that's not in the contract it's going to be impossible to enforce any 'notice period'.

but likewise it depends entirely what's in the contract te whose choice the dates are.

things like this are the reason you should read a lot of contracts & get advice before writing your own contract.

I think it’s more usual for the contract to specify that the nanny gets to choose when to take half her days (so, in your case, 10 days) and you get to choose when she takes the other days (again, 10 days) to coincide with when you plan to be away.

Inevitably you end up paying your nanny for more than the number of holiday days specified in the contract as you will want to take additional time off.