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Original poster

Nanny travel expenses

100 replies

intheshedyes · 01/02/2021 23:16

Hello all,

We hired a new part time nanny and as two of my children need a train to get to school. I pay my nanny travel costs from going to take them to school in the morning and then when she is bringing them back home.

In the mornings, my nanny rides her bike and parks her bike near our closest station. She asked me that once she drops the children to school, can she use the top up travel card, to come back to the staton and pick up her bike to drive home.

AIBU to say no. I don't want to pay too much travel as it is!

OP posts:

DeRigueurMortis · 02/02/2021 01:30

@intheshedyes

I very much doubt that OP

I disagree. People were shocked that I was paying the nanny's travel fares... even the nanny herself wasn't expecting that as her other employers do not do this.

I suspect the confusion might be how you've phrased the question with your friends.

I can assure you it's not normal to expect a Nanny to pay for travel at your instruction outside of the workplace.

If your Nanny wasn't expecting this to be funded my guess is that she's either very inexperienced/naive or that she's shocked that isn't what's being proposed and is delicately trying to get you to reconsider your position.

MaggieFS · 02/02/2021 03:58

@intheshedyes

I strongly suspect you have not made a good first impression. No common sense or pragmatism at all

Not really . She asked me by text. I haven't replied yet. No impression to give.

No one that I know of pays their nanny travel fares,

Will definitely pay her over time and generously

Talking about her 'travel costs' implies the cost of her commute to your house, not the costs incurred in doing the job you want her to do once she has started work, which you should cover.

Bloodybridget · 02/02/2021 04:05

The situation isn't that confusing, surely, or the rights and wrongs that clear-cut. Would have been clearer if OP had said "cycled" rather than "driven", unless she/he is referring to a motorbike. But essentially, the OP is covering the cost of the nanny taking the DCs to and from school, but the nanny also wants her travel costs to and from work to be covered - which wouldn't usually be included in remuneration, would they?

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Childcare & nursery Families

Bloodybridget · 02/02/2021 04:06

I can see other people have said the same thing, sorry!

Teardrop2021 · 02/02/2021 05:06

Oh gosh. Troll hunters. Never posting on here again. This is my first time using a nanny... wanted to know about travel costs. Some of the people I've spoken do not pay for their nanny's travel fares.. was a bit confused on how the whole thing would work out.

You're not paying for her to get to work but take youre dc to school and the return back to get her bike. Why should she be out of pocket. You sound an awful employer as if she has to message you to sa.

ChateauMargaux · 02/02/2021 06:43

I am also curious about the 10 hours a week. You say it's an after school nanny job but she also takes your children to school in the morning. The journeys alone would account for 2 hours a day. Is she also doing additional hours in the afternoons?

KeepWashingThoseHands · 02/02/2021 06:52

Just weird - all of it.

StepOutOfLine · 02/02/2021 06:59

I suppose it depends what her contract says.
What did you give her in writing?
If her contract doesn't specify which bit of the travel is paid for, I can understand the confusion.

Flickoffboris · 02/02/2021 07:04

If this is genuine.... Do you have a contract and a payroll company? You don't seem to have the cognition to manage those yourself, so I hope for poor Nanny's sake you've outsourced it. Or do you expect to pay her in cheese or suchlike?

Popsy321 · 02/02/2021 07:59

@intheshedyes

I very much doubt that OP

I disagree. People were shocked that I was paying the nanny's travel fares... even the nanny herself wasn't expecting that as her other employers do not do this.

Absolute nonsense. First time employing a nanny or not, common sense would tell you otherwise.

TheUndoingProject · 02/02/2021 08:03

The people you are talking to are probably thinking about their nanny’s travel to and from work OP. You are asking her to travel with the children as part of her employment. Therefore you need to pay her to get back to the start point of the journey (i.e. where she picked up the kids).

CuriousaboutSamphire · 02/02/2021 08:08

You have got to apologise to her. Your initial reaction makes you sound extremely.penny pinching, tight.

She'll walk away if she has any fears over money.

DicklessWonder · 02/02/2021 08:24

@intheshedyes

I made two posts because the 'Chat' sections gets overpopulated with threads that I was worried that may thread may not get seen- as to why I posted on AIBU.

Thank you. I will pay the nanny. First time using a nanny so very clueless at the moment,

That’s quite ironic. The chat boards get overpopulated, so you make 2 posts instead of 1......

EuroTrashed · 02/02/2021 08:30

You have a business meeting in New York. Your employer covers the flight there AND back.
You move 40 miles away from your job. Your employer pays nothing to help you get to / from the office.

Does that make it clearer?
Alternatively if we’re talking one tube stop but it’s too far with the kids as they’re small, borderline that she should walk but swings and roundabouts because you’ll pay more for her time as it will take longer. You’re in for a bit of a shock when the school holiday expenses start to roll in...

PricklesAndSpikes · 02/02/2021 08:30

I've never had a nanny either but think of it like this - you don't get travel expenses to get to and from your home to your workplace, that's fine, not may people do, but if your company sent you to a conference in New York, would you expect them to only pay your airfare there, or would you expect a return ticket? It's maybe an over exaggeration, but the principal is the same.

Itsnotlikethiswithotherpeople · 02/02/2021 08:32

@SmidgenofaPigeon

I don’t understand. Is she not needed again until the afternoon? But you don't want to pay for her to return to where she left her bike so she can ride home in the interim

If that’s the case, that’s pretty tight of you.

Agreed

Itsnotlikethiswithotherpeople · 02/02/2021 08:34

I don’t see how you can not pay her to go back to her starting point, that’s surely part and parcel of doing the job.

Lalliella · 02/02/2021 08:38

@intheshedyes

I very much doubt that OP

I disagree. People were shocked that I was paying the nanny's travel fares... even the nanny herself wasn't expecting that as her other employers do not do this.

People were shocked? What people? Slave owners?

You expect your nanny to pay her own expenses out of her wages? Really?

Also, is she really able to do that entire journey in an hour?

Out of interest, how do your kids get to the station OP?

Crimblecrumble1990 · 02/02/2021 08:39

I think you are confusing what travel expenses are.

her coming to you to start her work day on her bike (or car etc) is a travel expense that you do not pay.

her taking your children anywhere (there and back) is not a 'travel expense' and you would pay for.

Sendingasurprise · 02/02/2021 08:43

You need to pay for her to get back to where she started her journey to school with your children. Presumably this is the same train station where she is sensibly leaving her bike (because she needs it to ride home for the hours in between when you don't employ her). Yes, you pay. Your nanny is already covering her own personal journey to work and back with her bike. Anything else is your responsibility.

Original poster

intheshedyes · 02/02/2021 08:51

Slave owners?

Wow. Quite a racist thing to say. You could have used another analogy but instead used "slave owners". Why?

OP posts:

Original poster

intheshedyes · 02/02/2021 08:52

I said I will pay the nanny....

OP posts:

LIZS · 02/02/2021 08:55

What does she do to get home after her pm shift? Do you only pay her time from picking up to dropping pff at school then while the dc are in her care in afternoons, excluding her travel?

Skyliner001 · 02/02/2021 08:55

Agree with the above, the travel time would probably be around two hours a day, and it is a 10 hour week. Do you pay her for her time when she is travelling with your children?

Techway · 02/02/2021 09:08

AIBU to say no. I don't want to pay too much travel as it is!

Very, very unreasonable!

If you took your children to school by train and then home again, wouldn't you have to pay? It is shocking that you think like this. Make sure you reimburse her for any return train fares that she has already incurred and say sorry.

If she is a young woman she may have felt very awkward having to ask.

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