Twelve Weeks Holiday... How to Pay...?

[VentiPeppermintMochaWithWhip]

Evening everyone!

Just wondering if you have any ideas on how to go about paying a nanny with twelve weeks holiday please.

Both of the kids are at school and I am at uni, and sometimes I have holidays that the kids don't, so we won't need a nanny for twelve weeks out of the year... so how should I go about paying her? Maybe a reduced payment for retainer? Any ideas? Eek!

Thank you in advance!

Antonia

Do you already employ her? Or is this just pre offer stage?

We have this issue with our nanny. You have to start from the basis that, while you may find someone willing to work for less but get more holiday, most nannies would rather have a standard amount of holiday and full pay and if you choose not to use the full amount of the nanny's working time, then that is your choice but she still needs to be paid. Hopefully though, you can come to some agreement/compromise on this that works for both of you, if you can both be a bit flexible and appreciate the other's point of view.

We go away for pretty much all of the school holidays so our nanny, who officially has 28 days holiday, inc bank hols, actually ends up with a lot more. For a while we just paid her, but six months ago agreed that we now split the "extra" holidays she gets in half, so treat half as just a perk for her and she "gives back" half in extra babysitting. Eg The last half term off we swapped in return for overnight babysitting on a Saturday, while we went to a party and stayed at a hotel, came back late Sunday morning. A lovely occasional treat and great for a bit of proper time just as a couple. The other effect of lots of holidays is that even though our nanny is in theory able to choose the timing of 2 weeks of her holiday, she very rarely does as I think we all feel that it would be a bit cheeky, when she has 12 weeks to choose from already! So she fits in with ours.

Hth

belladimamma This is just a preoffer

sleepwhenidie that sounds like a good idea, although I have emailed the accountant for some advice so it might work out more financially beneficial. As much as we'd love to have some couple outtings, it just feels so impossible with my university commitments, the house, the kids, etc etc etc.

Thanks so much so far ladies. =-D

A. x

Have a read through this

There are nannies out there that will work a term-time only contract and realise that paying for 12 weeks holiday a year is an expense that a lot of employers cannot run to. Some employers will pay a 'half pay' retainer for the 12 weeks per year. Generally, most will annualise the salary and pay it monthly so that the nannies income remains the same each month - I think this also has the benefit of being more cost effective with regards to ni - Mr Anchovy knows more about this.

It is important that you put into the contract that annual leave is confined to these holiday periods.

If it is pre offer I think you are still at the stage where you can establish what some of her incentives / priorities are so that you can then work those into any agreement - eg the half pay ideas which have been suggested here - along with gym membership etc.

Many moons ago doing my PhD I had a nanny who would work extra then take time off in lieu. It worked because her parents lived overseas so it gave her time to travel. Some friends have a nanny who is very into the gym so they pay her member ship and she gets to spend loads of time there on the time she is on half pay.

Thanks for that nbee84

I was speaking with a teacher friend of mine and she recommended that, instead of paying a 1/2 price retainer, we use those hours during the kids school holidays or when I'm on placement at the hospital. Does that make sense? I'll try again...

When I'm at uni and the kids are at school, we will require before and after school care, probably 10 hours per week, although we will pay a minimum of 12 hours per week regardless of how many hours she works.
But when the kids are off school and I'm still at uni or if I'm on placement working long hours, we will require childcare for probably 20/25 hours per week. So my friend recommended using the hours of the extra 6 weeks holiday (6 weeks x 12 hours = 72 hours) to pay for those additional hours needed during this time.

Is that legal? Do you think a nanny would be willing? I might call a nanny agency tomorrow to ask and see if they'd be willing to help me draw up a contract (for a small fee of course.)

Ideas? Comments? Suggestions?

Cheers!

A. x

Is it legal and it could work - as long as the nanny is happy having those changing hours - and if you can afford to pay the full whack. If you need to save the money, go for the other option.

Important to stress to agency and candidate that you are very keen on them as nannies value being valued IME.

I suggest you call a nanny payroll company, not a nanny agency. The payroll company may well have dealt with similar things in the past and know how it would work in payment terms and also statutory entitlement terms.

Do you currently have an applicant who is interested in only working 10 hours a week? It sounds a short amount of time to me... not that appealing to many people in my view. If it was 16 hours then that's another matter, as 16 hours is the magic number for Working Tax Credit. Is it a nanny with own child?

As long as the nanny gets a minimum of statutory holiday entitlement, then I think you are ok to play with hours worked per week/month. I think you would contract for a set number hour hours per year (which includes the holiday entitlement) and then with agreement from the nanny work out on a week by week basis how many hours they work that week. Not sure many nannies would want a job on that basis though... I wouldn't... but you never know you may find someone who is interested in that.

humbled by nannynick's encyclopaedic knowledge as usual<

shuffles off to bed

Hmm, I agree with Nick - a job that is sometimes 10 hours a week, sometimes 20-25 and sometimes none sounds like a bit too much flexibility/uncertainty to me, but it might suit someone.

The two ways you could arrange the contract are either on a 'zero hours' basis, where you pay her and she accrues holiday for hours actually worked, or on a 'time bank' basis where you pay her a fixed amount which adds time to the bank (and also to the holiday bank) and the time she actually works comes out of it.

Zero hours is a little simpler than time bank, but time bank saves NI for the employer and employee so can be worth the extra complexity. One of the better payroll agencies may be able to explain these arrangements in more detail and provide draft contract terms.

Hello again NannyNick

We've been incredibly fortunate in that most of the applicants we've had responses from are of the more "mature" variety. They are grandmothers looking for part-time work and I really feel very positive about three of them thus far.

I totally understand your concerns of the unsteadiness of it all, but I've been very honest and upfront about everything. Our previous nanny had no qualms whatsoever getting paid for a 16 hour week and only working 8 of those hours, with no payback of those hours. She did really well if you ask me.

I've spoken with the accountant and she said that she'd sort it all out to the benefit of both new nanny and us.

Now if I could only get my bursary to pay for childcare... ;-)

A. x