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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Nanny and holidays

36 replies

shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:15

Advice needed please. I have a nanny. I wrote out a contract of employment myself. I have home insurance which covers the nanny working in my home.

My accountant helps me with her pay slip and paying her NI, Tax and pension.

In the terms I outlined that she would get 20 days holiday, plus bank holidays of course.

I told her it would be great if we could arrange to take holidays at a similar time. But of course, it won't always be possible. With my last nanny, we managed to do that a couple of times. Another time, she took her holiday and I took a few days off work to cover that time.

My nanny doesn't have any holidays planned yet over summer, but I've got family visiting and also want to go and visit my family perhaps. It just means I have to pay her even though she's not working, right ? That's what I did with my last nanny anyway. But thankfully it didn't happen that often.

Just wondered if anyone has experience at this and there's any other way to go around it ? Just because it will be difficult for me, if she decided to take all her holiday later in the year and I've already used mine up etc. I'm sure we can work a way around it.

OP posts:
NEmama · 19/06/2023 12:19

You can't make her take holidays when she doesn't want to. But she also has to take them when convenient. 20 days isn't much. Ask her to book her dates in?

ForbiddenColour · 19/06/2023 12:19

Long time since I had a nanny but then contract we had that our nanny had free choice for 50% of their holidays, the other 50%had to be taken at the same time as us -with sufficient notice.

Original poster
shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:20

NEmama · 19/06/2023 12:19

You can't make her take holidays when she doesn't want to. But she also has to take them when convenient. 20 days isn't much. Ask her to book her dates in?

I get 20 days plus bank holidays from my job, so I thought it was reasonable

OP posts:
NEmama · 19/06/2023 12:20

@shuhs it's the minimum

Original poster
shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:20

ForbiddenColour · 19/06/2023 12:19

Long time since I had a nanny but then contract we had that our nanny had free choice for 50% of their holidays, the other 50%had to be taken at the same time as us -with sufficient notice.

Ah ok. Thanks. I could talk to her about something similar, it would really help. I'm sure she wouldn't mind.

OP posts:
flipent · 19/06/2023 12:20

shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:20

I get 20 days plus bank holidays from my job, so I thought it was reasonable

Show quote history

20 days is the legal minimum.

Original poster
shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:21

Yeah I know it's the minimum. It's all I get. So it's reasonable for me to give her the same.

OP posts:
Quveas · 19/06/2023 12:22

NEmama · 19/06/2023 12:19

You can't make her take holidays when she doesn't want to. But she also has to take them when convenient. 20 days isn't much. Ask her to book her dates in?

Actually, legally you can. The law says that an employer can dictate annual leave dates. Whether the OP wants to do that is a different matter.

Oreosareawful · 19/06/2023 12:24

NEmama · 19/06/2023 12:19

You can't make her take holidays when she doesn't want to. But she also has to take them when convenient. 20 days isn't much. Ask her to book her dates in?

I think you can to a certain extent? For instance, my office closes for two weeks over Christmas and I have to use my holidays over that time.

ForbiddenColour · 19/06/2023 12:24

From nannymatters:

"In law, the employer must simply allow 5.6 weeks of holiday. There is no legislation covering when that holiday should be taken. In theory, this means that an employer can decide when the employee takes all the time off, although in practice that rarely happens. The standard for nannies is a fair compromise: the parents choose half the floating days and the nanny chooses the other half'

The 5.6 weeks = 20days plus statutory holiday.

Original poster
shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:24

@Quveas I'm not going to do that. But I'll have an open and honest conversation with her. She's really reasonable and will understand where I'm coming from.

OP posts:
TimeforaGandT · 19/06/2023 12:24

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.

AmelieTaylor · 19/06/2023 12:25

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.

Original poster
shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:27

AmelieTaylor · 19/06/2023 12:25

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.

We have a really good relationship. She'll understand.

OP posts:
HauntedPencil · 19/06/2023 12:28

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

DDivaStar · 19/06/2023 12:29

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.

Original poster
shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:32

DDivaStar · 19/06/2023 12:29

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.

Yeah I'll do something like this. Thank you so much.

OP posts:
AmelieTaylor · 19/06/2023 12:33

shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:27

We have a really good relationship. She'll understand.

Show quote history

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

Original poster
shuhs · 19/06/2023 12:35

@AmelieTaylor yeah but that's why I wouldn't dictate all her holidays right. 50-50 sounds fair to me.

OP posts:
PoachedEd · 19/06/2023 12:36

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

maddiemookins16mum · 19/06/2023 13:16

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.

Original poster
shuhs · 20/06/2023 08:47

Thanks everyone for your advice.

I'm considering asking her to join me on a trip to see family.

How much do I more do I need to pay her ?

OP posts:
AbacusAvocado · 20/06/2023 08:51

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.

Original poster
shuhs · 20/06/2023 09:22

AbacusAvocado · 20/06/2023 08:51

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.

Mh ok. It's going to be more of a case of us being together most of the time. She won't be left on her own with them. More like an extra hand.

OP posts:
snitzelvoncrumb · 20/06/2023 09:28

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.

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