Retainer over the summer?

[pleasantlyconfused]

We are about to employ a nanny, one of us is a teacher so we won't be using the nanny during the holidays. We intend to pay her for all holidays, but thought maybe we could pay a retainer for 5 weeks over the summer. Is this fair? and if so, how much, half pay? She's a lovely nanny, this is our first nanny experience so don't want to do the wrong thing.

We have 10 weeks between us over summer (both teachers). I think half pay is fair.

Thanks!

If you are not permitting holiday to be taken during term time (perfectly reasonable thing to do) then remember to keep in mind that some of the summer holidays will be your nannies own holiday time, so that time should be paid at full rate - that assumes that holiday time isn't totally being used by time off at other breaks like half-term.

As long as you are clear about how the pay will be calculated and how it will be paid (such as if it will be split into 12 equal monthly payments) then it's fine to agree a retainer over periods of time when nanny is not working or on holiday. However it needs to be agreed upfront, not after the contract has been signed.

Keep in mind that your nanny has bills to pay, so if you are reducing the salary they are expecting to get, then they may decide not to take the job.

When working a term time only contract you are entitled to 5 weeks paid holiday (think it may be 4.8 but I've rounded up - pro rata'd down from 5.6 weeks holiday as you only work 39 weeks of the year)

So, nanny needs to be paid for 44 weeks of the year. I'm presuming that she has the other holidays off paid - so offering half pay for the summer break is very fair.

As Nick says, make sure it is discussed and agreed before contracts are issued or signed so that it doesn't come out of the blue to her.

Have you tried looking into a cm? Much less expensive, still fabulous home environment care :)