Coronavirus- can nanny still work?

Just to add. An employer must provide a safe workplace. If they cannot do that (through distancing and hygiene measures in this case) they should shut down.

If an employee is dismissed for refusing to work, or because he/she left the workplace for those reasons, it would be automatic unfair dismissal.

Hi Mildred01 I have absolutely no idea why any nanny would consider working in a private household if they live out ? I am presuming nannies have no magic powers to shield them from either spreading or contracting Covid 19 ?

I am equally horrified that some non key worker employers consider their job important enough to put their child and nannies health at risk. (No PPE and little chance of social distancing not to mention the most dangerous aspect - travelling in and out of another persons household)

Which part of stay home, protect the NHS are these employers not getting. People should only be travelling if essential. Looking after the kids of financial services providers is NOT essential.

I also assume that Nannies are either payed PAYE or self employed if looking after several families children. If the latter is the case then you should just stop, claim UC for the time being to pay rent /etc and make a claim via HMRC under the new self employed support. If you are in PAYE you should just tell your incredibly selfish employers that you need to be on furlough. They don't pay you - the government does. .. and sadly like everyone else in the country their children will have to go to the government provided childcare if they are key workers or manage themselves - if they aren't.

Putting Nannies health at risk because it's 'hard' to look after your own children is just not acceptable.

Well I can furlough my nanny and I know others that have but as per nanny PAYE and nanny tax there is still clarification pending on whether or not it will be refunded to employers of domestic workers.

So I could do it, but currently I would have to do it with the risk that I couldn’t claim the 80% back. As I understand it also I wouldn’t be able to hire someone else during the period of furlough.

I would love to see domestic workers recognised, it would be brilliant. But until clarification is reached we all have to be careful with the messaging

I think it's pretty clear that nannies can work under the new Regulations and the FAQ sheet posted below makes it even clearer. However, it is not clear that domestic employers will be eligible for the furlough scheme.

We are not key workers but like a lot of nanny employers are higher tax payers, contributing a substantial amount to the pot, as well as providing employment for our nanny. Also, as a senior person in my team at work I am responsible for providing work to "feed" my team of 30, and my husband is the same. If we couldn't work, that would all fall away. Our nanny is essential to holding all this together!

There are Nannies that have already been furloughed.
Hmrc confirmed all Paye employees in employment before 28th February.

Heroise unfortunately it’s yet to be clarified if you even qualify for furlough, would be great to see the clarification of domestic workers have been classed as qualifying.

The rules are simply, it’s not about just working for key workers. If you decide to not work then that is completely your right to, you will have to go off on unpaid leave

The difficulty is that the advice given is that you can still attend work if you cannot work from home. I can see both sides though.

It’s tough for employers who can’t pay their nannies if they are not working and it’s tough for the nanny who wants to isolate but can’t afford to not get paid.

If you furlough your nanny you are saying that there is no work for them and you then cannot hire a replacement. As an employer you could then be retrospectively audited and potentially be done for fraud if you do this. Of course this all depends on whether domestic employers are even allowed to furlough in the first place. We need to wait for more direction on this retention scheme. We can’t get cross at employers for not putting nannies on furlough when we don’t even know whether it’s even possible.

I don't have a link. They're emailing Nannies who enquire about what they should be doing.
We just have screenshots of the emails.

Doesn't make any difference though, parents are still making us work or threatening to not furlough us. At lot don't care.

@Heiderose Please can you provide the link so we can have a look at what Ofsted and the Dep of education are saying. Thank you!

Thank you heiderose my brain is frazzled as I've seen advice left right and centre over the last week but I knew there were some key people saying we should only really work for key workers.

Ofsted & the Dept of Education have been telling Nannies they should only be going to work where both parents are key workers.
Nannies can not follow the social distancing rules whilst at work & are obviously breaking the no mixing household rule.
Our insurance is no longer valid because of this (except with childcare.co.uk I think)
Which means any Ofsted registration is invalid & childcare vouchers can't be used.

Mildred are you on the facebook nanny groups? They are fantastic and full of many nannies who are in similar boats. I've found them to be really supportive. I think most nannies agree that we shouldn't be going in at this time unless absolutely necessary, and from my experience, many parents agree. Nannymatters have been fantastic and have given some great advice. Have a look on their website.
I work for multiple families and I feel incredibly lucky as all have now asked me not to come in with full pay, I have of course told them all that if anything changes with their finances then we can discuss again. It would be irresponsible for me to be going in and out of different houses.
I'm still working for one family who are both key workers but they are only having me in when they have a work clash.

If I worked for one family only (I have a car) then I wouldn't have any problem going in, but it was making me really nervous potentially spreading the virus through all those families. And truth be told. I'm really scared about it myself.

Mildred 01, is it the journey aspect that is worrying you most? I would feel deeply uneasy about using public transport at the moment. Could you bring this up with your employer? Requesting a taxi at the moment rather than using public transport, I would think, is a reasonable request.

Mildred01 it sounds like you have made your decision. Potentially you could agree a set time to kept your job open? You need to tell your employer ASAP so she can find an alternative

Pidgy if my nanny did that then I would have no choice but to find an alternative. I would clearly love to retain her so could look to hold her job for a set period but couldn’t afford two at the same time.

The guidelines say she can work, she has chosen not to therefore essentially she would be resigning. She could claim universal credit.

I think there is a mistaken belief going round that you could claim the 80% from the government but 1) it’s not clear you could 2) you couldn’t have another nanny in at the same time.

My 2 weeks is up now and she’s expecting me to go back. She’s getting really annoyed because I’m not there which I understand she needs help but there’s also two of them and they’re not keyworkers. I feel safer not leaving the house but I see other people think it’s ok to still continue as they are. We do have a good relationship but this may be our first big disagreement.

@mildred01 I believe you would qualify for SSP under the new legislation because you’ve chosen to isolate (And for good reason too). From what I’ve read, that may only be 2 weeks though. Thereafter you could see if you qualify for universal credit?

Do you have a good relationship with your employers?

No- I wouldn’t expect to be paid because that would be unfair. I have bills to pay and would struggle but at the end of the day my families health comes first. The only thing is I’m scared to say anything because I know they would struggle without help as that’s why they are desperate to have me back (children are over 9) but i think they could manage without me- they obviously don’t. I’m even tempted to hand in my notice over this but don’t want to be mean. What should I do?

Our nanny is saying she cannot work as her insurance doesn’t cover her and she can’t keep a 2m distance whilst in our house.

The guidance I see has now changed so that it clarifies only ‘where possible’ you need the 2m distance.

Where do we stand with the insurance apparently not covering her?
Is this correct considering the government are saying she can go to work!

Not unfair, but would you expect to be paid?

Hi everyone, I am a nanny and see we can still go in to work. My problem is I have been self isolating for 14 days and my employer is desperate for me to come back to work. Both parents are home and work for financial companies so not key workers yet still expect me to travel by tube and bus to come in. I live with two vulnerable people in my household, would it be unfair of me to ask not to go in?

Thanks for posting that guidance, very useful.

Hi @Excited101 I'm afraid not. I am with childcare.co.uk..
I read it (and saw screenshots of emails) on the nanny lounge Facebook group.

Huggles I’m with Morton Michel, and I emailed them to see if I was still covered and they just directed me to the governments education guidelines and said they were following those. Have you had direct information saying your not covered?

@Kateguide glad to see they keep updating the website as some of the terminology before was quite confusing. I think this is the reason a lot of people didn’t go to work.

This is the advice I have followed too, however despite this, our nanny has decided she doesn’t want to take the risk.