AIBU Nanny Travel costs

[intheshedyes]

Hello all,

We hired a new part time nanny who does the morning and after school runs. Two of my children need a train to get to school so 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 station and pick up her bike to drive home.

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

My goodness, maybe you should rethink this whole employing a nanny thing.

Your nanny is allowed to bike to work, you can’t force her to use the train simply because it would save her money.

Anyone would expect you to find the return journey.

Popsy321 Thank you.

Smidgen my arrangement is my business and I wish not to out myself. Besides, why would I answer to you as you said horrible things to me on the thread.
Good bye ✋

@Dastardlythefriendlymutt you realise there’s plenty of British born nannies right? You’re assuming the OP’s nanny is a foreigner with absolutely no basis for it.

And if the nanny lives close to the school and has no reason to come back to yours during the day, no you don’t pay the morning return journey

Why doesn’t she take the bike in the train???

Yep, absolutely you should! It’s not her journey to work - which you don’t need to pay - it’s returning to her starting point. If you pay her for an hour in the morning - £12 say - and she has to buy her ticket back for that single journey (say £2.90) then you have really only paid her £9:90 .....

@EuroTrashed

Why doesn’t she take the bike in the train???

Presumably because she needs to be in full control of 2+ children.

@intheshedyes

Not going to engage in this thread.

Thank you for the very few helpful replies.

The nanny asked me. I haven't replied to her yet. Hence I came to ask Mumsnet to ask.... very new to the whole nannying and a bit out of depth. I will pay her.

Good night all.

What has being new to nannying get to do with it? I have never had a nanny but I have common sense and some decency. Also I have travelled a great deal with work, they have paid me to fly to another office and back, they don’t expect me to make my own way home.

I do hope you have not been making her pay her own fare to date and if you have, you need to reimburse her.

[quote ChancesWhatChances]@Dastardlythefriendlymutt you realise there’s plenty of British born nannies right? You’re assuming the OP’s nanny is a foreigner with absolutely no basis for it.[/quote]
Where did I say anything about the nanny being foreign?

I said if it's not underpaying nannies (of any nationality) then people who can't afford nannies opt for an au pair and overwork them beyond the regulations as if they are doing that person a favour, by giving them a chance to learn English (something actually paraphrased from a thread about au pairs on MN).

Nowhere did I mention the nationality of any nannies.

I said the nanny should be paid properly and in my previous post that if employers paid a fair wage and expenses, I suspect many families would not have nannies.

@EuroTrashed Many operators don’t allow bikes in rush hour, some (LU) don’t allow them at all.

@ChancesWhatChances
Maybe actually try reading people's comments before falsely claiming I said something I didn't

For a bit of perspective OP, I'm a Rota Nanny for a family abroad - they pay a return flight from the UK to their country every 2 weeks (currently 4 weeks) for me to do my shift. They do this for Nanny on the other half of the Rota too!

@Dastardlythefriendlymutt you’re making a point about the OP thinking the nanny should be grateful to have a job and a chance to learn English, that’s assuming the nanny isn’t from the U.K. there’s nothing in the OP’s post to say where her nanny was born.

You won’t have a nanny much longer.

Wish our train line banned bikes. Especially the folding ones that people spend an age assembling and disassembling on the platform.

I do not claim travel expenses at work. But reading this thread, it looks like I need to.

You really can’t see the difference? Really?

Also, 2/10 for the flouncing. Poor effort.

@intheshedyes

With the arrangement you describe I would look into a travel pass, it might be cheaper. Return to the start point is normal.

@EuroTrashed

Wish our train line banned bikes. Especially the folding ones that people spend an age assembling and disassembling on the platform.

We're never going to get rid of our car centric culture while all this bike hate exists.

The trains are empty at the moment, I can't see what the issue with bikes is. Different in normal times when there wasn't room (though that was the fault of the train operators for not accommodating them properly).

Anyway, the OP should pay the nanny's return fares both morning and afternoon.

Where a nanny lives, how she gets to work and what she does with her time between shifts is none of her employer's business. Why should she spend the day without her bike because it saves her boss money? You absolutely need to pay for the return journey.

@ChancesWhatChances

Verbatim quote:

I once had a temporary nanny job. They didn't want to pay me the half hour travel time to pick up the kids from school in the afternoon. Another family wanted to pay me £2.50 a day less than my fee.

These families were put straight and not thought of fondly..*
Dastardlythefriendlymutt

That is disgusting and sadly common. If not this it's get an au pair and give her nanny duties and make her work overtime while paying a pittance. She should in turn just be grateful for getting a chance to live with a family in this country and learn proper English🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️🤦🏾‍♀️.

Nothing wrong with having help, but pay people properly FFS

If not this i.e.: if it is not underpaying a nanny for childcare as the above example then some people OPT for an au pair that they overwork and underpay with the excuse that they are getting the chance to learn English

If not this/Additionally/Furthermore/A separate point or example entirely that adds weight to the conversation

Nowhere did I say the OP's nanny was foreign.

FFS

@intheshedyes at what point did I say horrible things on the thread?

Horrible things and and honest answers to the questions YOU posed are not the same thing, when of you don’t like the answer. Are you normally this defensive, or do you just love the opportunity for a big flounce when you encounter people that don’t agree with you, OP? I actually gave you a perspective that should be useful to you because I’m a nanny myself, you just didn’t like it because it would paint you in a bad light.

HoppingPavlova

What?

I see the difference. I travel to many places due to work but do not claim back travel expenses. When I started, unsurprisingly (as people on this board have called me stupid with no common sense... thank you ) I was baffled on how it would work out. So it was easier not to claim. Reading this thread, it seems like I need to!

*even if

Oh bullshit you don’t claim for your own work travel expenses! Wide eyed faux ‘oh it never occurred to me!’ I don’t buy it.

I sometimes don’t claim for small journeys because of the hassle, but I earn a lot more than what I imagine you pay your nanny.

Do you not travel with work? Or You pay for taxis, and car parking, and trains etc out of your own pocket?

For me in normal times this can run into hundreds of pounds.