Is she taking the piss?

I don't think this nanny was crap / just that she got told her job would b going down in hours by half in sept but ended up being 3mths early - so course she will look for another family - she has bills to pay

Being a nanny is personal and unlike working in an office - but in the end it is a job and anyone can look for a new job and leave their current one whether a nanny - nurse - office worker etc and the employer shouldn't take it personally

Fucking hell, what a bear pit this place is. OP I sympathise with you. Some nannies are crap, and she sounds like one of them. Your desperation for continuity for your kids is putting you in a terrible position: just get rid of her as soon as you can. Mumsnet, and the threads in this section in particular are massively biased towards nannies. You won't get thanked for pointing out their deficiencies. Now ladies, shall we all desist? Some of the attempts to aggravate the OP on here are heartless and pathetic.

Beryl I get paid a third of my wages in vouchers. To get vouchers nannies have to be registered with ofsted which there is a fee of £100 per year. To be registered you need at least a level 2 qualification in childcare, a crb check and a up to date first aid cert.

I don't know if this has been suggested as I haven't read the entire thread but I'm a nanny and worked for 2 boys after school and then full time in the holidays. My pay was calculated for the whole year and then divided by 12. This worked out well as it was not such a pay cut for myself but did work out cheaper for the employer. Having a nanny is the most expensive form of childcare.
I think one of you needs to make a decision and stick with it and the umming and ahhing from you both is not good for the situation or the children who eventually will miss out.

You've chosen the most expensive childcare option. This is your choice. There are cheaper options out there.

I hear both sides - you're both trying to cove r your bak. She wants the stability of a salary (albeit halved), till Sept .. But if she finds another role sooner she will leave sooner, this is just the way employment goes. She'd be silly to miss an opportunity. Same for you - you need to look at options NOW. So if you fins someone suitable sober you'd give her notice sooner.

Try not make it personal. Or that she is 'rejecting' your kids. It's her job. She'll bond with new kids at her next job. It's childcare. She's not a parent.

I suspect the OP has disappeared. However, FWIW, I thought there was a move to include nannies in the childcare voucher scheme, which if you are a higher rate tax payer could save up to 40%. Not sure if it ever happened, but there was certainly talk about it when I was employing nannies.

You love the nanny and want her to stay on but the you call her useles?!

Like others have said, she has two weeks notice I. Her contract, that is all she has to give you. She will let you know when she has decided on what is right. Until then you either give her notice or wait until mid August for her to let you know either way.

It's not DOUBLE TAXATION!

Your employer pays your tax and NI on your behalf.
You pay your nanny tax and NI on her behalf. The gross wage is her wage. The tax and NI comes out of her wage! You do NOT pay double tax and NI!

I do agree that childcare should come out of your wage before you are taxed but to say you are doing her a favour by paying it is ludicrous! You are legally bound to pay it for her! Not doing so could end up in a huge fine and possibly a prison sentence.

Also just to add if your ex nanny wanted to bring her baby with her and you said no then she should of resigned and given you enough notice (as stated in her contract) for the notice period to run out at the same time as her mat pay plus accrued a/l so you shouldn't of needed to pay her any period as extra.

Hope you get the current situation sorted soon

Gosh! If money is such a struggle why use an expensive nanny? Not a very financially astute choice. A childminder would have cost you at least £100 to £150 per week less.

Anyhow you told her you would be employing her at her current full time rate until Sept and then you employ someone else and half her pay? Nice one I wouldn't be keen on working for you either I must say. No wonder you have had a few Nannies if you have treated them like this. Have fun.

let her complain

sick pay or ssp should be in the contract, you obv didnt have it in or you would have been paying ssp at £80ish a week

i have always had 8 weeks in my contracts but then i stay in my jobs long term and normally get made redundant as kids at school fulltime, and yes means the family pay me redundancy

tbh if you have 2 weeks notice in contract, then the nanny only has to give you that if/when she finds a job - why would she tell you of her plans

esp as you said sept hours go to 20 from 40, but you have done in 3 mths early

you only need to give her 2 weeks as well - works both ways, tho i think 2 weeks isnt enough for employee or employer

I think the problem is that because most nanny employers know that nannies usually have a 4 week notice period, if they are looking for a nanny to start in Sept, they may well not have started looking yet, becuase the nannies looking for jobs now are porbably looking for something to start earlier. That has been my experience as a nanny employer anyway. I really do not think your nanny is being unreasonable - she only has 2/4 (not sure) week notice in her contract - if you want longer notice to give you certainty then next time write that in the contract (although of course it works both ways). If i were her I would be looking for a full time job for Sept to give the certainty of income (although it is possible to manage 2 part time jobs, it is much more uncertain for the nanny as if one of the jobs falls though in the future it is harder to get another part time role that exactly fits - there is therefore much more turnover of part time nannies). But I would also look for part time roles as a fallback, whether to combine with your job or with each other, because these days full time roles are not that easy to come by. I do not think she can give you certainty becuase she genuinely does not know yet what might be available and it is not unreasonable for her to want to keep her current job as a fallback, until the time comes when she has to give notice. I would not read too much into the fact she is looking at other part time roles - the other employer may not have been clear about hours when she applied or maybe she was worried you would change your mind again or was testing to see if she could get more per hour.

But although I do not think she is being unreasonable, I do sympathise with the personal side of it and your desire of have as much notice and certainty as possible for the children. it is just one of the risks/downsides of using a nanny as childcare because the legal obligations as an employer are not always wholly compatible with the personal wishes as a parent. FWIW we have found a replacement nanny in a week before (in that case the short notice was due to DH's change in plans rather than nanny) and actually she is great - we could not have found someone better if we had looked for 2 months. Had that not worked out, though, we were prepared to use a temp nanny agency for a period.

Apologies, I cut some text but then did not paste it back where I wanted it!

Sorry about that.

This is what my first paragraph should read.

This is not a healthy employer-nanny relationship and it will start to rub off on your children. Therefore I think you should be totally fair to your nanny, who has taken the role believing it is a full-time position.

Then my paragraph shown above should follow that.

Sorry,

FFF X

I would call an end to it all, but get proper legal advice on how to do this. I know far too many employers who have come a cropper with nannies who appear to verbally agree to one thing at the end of a job and then end up being taken to an employment tribunal.

Be warned.

FFF x

Indeed AChild you wonder sometimes if karma really is true for some unpleasant people.

Serious chip on shoulder!

Maybe your nanny just doesn't know what she will do yet and that is why she has not been clear with you.

If my hours were going to be halved I would look for another job and no I wouldn't tell my current employer until I HAD too. So that would be when I had found another job that suits me better and was giving my notice. In this case two weeks.

If she told you she was looking for a new job, presumably you would give her notice and if she can't find anything im the meantime she would find herself unemployed.