we dont want to leave our lovely nanny ....

[zeus123]

But my youngest would be starting school next September and I would require afterschool and holiday care. How do you workout if she agrees to afterschool nannying - how are the school holidays covered? Do you work it out depending on the hours she work or does it have to be negotiated separately?

I was contracted to work before and after school M-F, all day during the holidays and "on call" during the day in case children ill/sent home from school etc. I also took on a PA role and arranged appointments etc. It's quite common.

Do you mean this September or next September?

If it's this September have you talked to her about things changing yet?

I would keep her on for the same hours you have her for now for the first term at least. You can afford her now so that shouldn't be a worry. It will help the little one settle in at school and if they do that half day/some days stuff that most schools do then you wont have any hassle with it. Also some of them just need the odd day off because it's all too much.

Then you can work out what to do for the next term.

Agree with ChippingIn - the first term or so can be a childcare nightmare if the school does a staggered entry with part-days.

Why do you want your nanny to leave? Does your job fit with other childcare providers hours - after all you have a nanny now not a childminder, so are the reasons for having a nanny not still the same?

Look into local childcare options, see if anything would fit - such as a childminder (as they often do before/after school care and school holidays - though will take some time off, just like your nanny would). Childminders run a business and have opening hours... you fit with them, not they fit with you, so you lose the control you currently have.

Not this september but next september. I know it is early to think about it but I really cannot afford to keep her full time when the kids are in school. I was thinking say if she is employed for 20 hours a weeks - 3 hours after school for 5 days (15hours) and an extra 5 hours to do kids room, laundry etc., and during school holidays - may be two days during the school holiday(8.00 -6.00) and we can take three days during the holidays so the week is covered. Do you think it will work out?

Would your nanny be able to survive on 20 hours a week? I guess dropping from around 50? Over half her weekly wage then dissappears! I know that I for one could not afford to live on that and if she is doing every afternoon for you, she probably won't be able to find another family who wants a nanny until 2pm. You will need to talk to her nearer the time.

How can we possibly know whether it could work out or not with your nanny? We have no idea what her home set up is like or anything. If she has a partner and would like to work part time this could be brilliant for her, if she's on her own with a mortgage then it's highly unlikely she can go down to part time hours.

But honestly, you really don't even need to think about this for another year. It's a LONG time away and anything could happen between now and then.

Why can't you afford her full time when your kids go to school? Will you be earning any less? Do you mean you don't want to pay her a full time wage when the kids are at school? Which although in someways is understandable, it's not the same thing.

I don't know how many kids you have - but wrap around childcare & holiday care for more than 2 kids is probably not going to be that much different.

Do you want to split all your holiday into small bits to cover holidays, sick days, inset days, snow days?? Or do you want to keep paying what you are already paying and take proper holidays with the kids?

Why not talk to her, see what she thinks, if she could consider part time once your youngest is settled into school (still think you'd be mad to cut her hours before your youngest has been at school at least a term - if at all).

If you can afford her now why can't you afford her next year?

Why would your nanny want to drop to irregular PT hours (and pay)?

Are you looking at the big picture? Your nanny is an established part of your children's lives - they are happy in her care and you are happy with her. Changing providers, whilst possibly being cheaper (we can't really work it out as we don't know exactly what childcare you will be needing) will mean a change in the person providing the care... someone unknown to you, someone unknown to your children. So the bond of trust has to be built up all over again.

How many children do you have?

How much time off school have you experienced with the older children? Have you found it much easier having a nanny to care for those older children when they are off school, especially unexpected days off?

I'm a live-out nanny. If my hours halved... I wouldn't agree to the new contract, I'd leave. Your nanny does not currently work part-time, so why would they in say 18 months time? I feel you will lose them. So take any ideas of them staying out of the equation... presume they will leave (never know they might stay, but I wouldn't, the bank would reprocess my home!)

3 hours after school for 5 days (15hours)

So does that mean you don't need anyone to take your children to school? Is nanny doing that currently? If so, then how come you won't need that in 18 months time?

may be two days during the school holiday(8.00 -6.00)
How much money would you/dh/dp lose by not working 3 days a week? Would your employer (or your clients) be happy about you having that time off work?

Having done a bit of research, I think you have 2 children aged 3 and 10 - is that right?
If so, then why have you got a nanny at the moment - surely having your 3 year old in a Nursery and 10 year old pickedup by a childminder would have been cheaper. Though maybe you did look at that and found there wasn't much in it cost wise.

A problem I can see coming up is that your 10 year old will not want to go to a childminder when she is 12, or possibly 11, or even now. Have you asked her about how see feels about having a nanny? Has she mentioned her friends having childminders? She is old enough to give you feedback about what childcare she wants. As children get older, I find they just want someone to run them to and from various activities and be there to pay for things! I babysit a 14 year old... it involves taking him to tennis club, sitting there twiddling my thumbs for 2 hours and taking him home again. That's the sort of thing young teens do - it's also not what I feel most childminders would consider doing. Some older children like going to a childminders - question is, would your eldest DD?

Does your eldest like going to summer activity camps? Those can be a low cost holiday care solution but they don't suit all children.

Thanks for all your advice . I have two dds 10 and 3 . The three year old is very attached to our nanny and we like her as well. I am planning to cut my hours so either me or my dh can drop them in school. I was planning to send the younger one to local primary school for few years. But that might not be possible as none of the children I know have been allocated their preferred school. So we might have to go private. Therefore I might not be able to afford her full time. I completely understand that she would not want to take up a pt job. But I just wanted to know if anyone had any experience of this and I appreciate that it is LONG time and lot of things might change in the meantime.
We are very happy with her and would like to keep her if possible.

How long has she been with you? If it is over 2 years (or will be by next Sept) you need to make her redundant (and pay any redundancy money due) - as her job as it stands will no longer be available. You have to offer her the new shorter hours before you can advertise for someone else to replace her. If you are just changing to another form of childcare then it is just a straightforward redundancy.

When my kids started school, we decided to change the hours from 40 hours a week to 20 hours a week (we now do the drop offs), and the nanny understandably didn't want to do it. so we found another nanny and we've been very happy with the reduced expense and the new nanny, who the children love even more than the previous one. Continuity may be desirable for some, but in our case a new carer worked really well, probably because the previous nanny wasn't as good with school aged children as she was with babies.

Do you think your current nanny would be good for school aged children?

We have a term-time only contract - we stipulated that they were not obliged to work for us during school holidays because we recognised that if they had another job, they may not be able to work the hours we needed during holidays. In fact it's worked out that they've been happy and able to work full days during school holidays.

The real complication is calculation of paid leave, but we've basically said that we'll give them 12.07% of the worked hours as paid leave (which is what legal min on statutory entitlement works out to be, apparently) so that's been OK.

It very much depends on the nanny

who knows, this time next year she may be pregnant and may WANT a job with fewer hours where she can bring her baby....

Both your circumstances could majorly change in the next 15 or so months, and nanny may not want to be an afterschool nanny anyway.

As a nanny i got bored when kids were at F/T school... i like looking after little children, hence choosing to be a nanny.....