We have employed a nanny as part of a nanny share for the past 2.5 months. Having been with us for a few weeks our nanny discovered she was pregnant, and had been (only just) pregnant when she started. Last week the other family decided to end their contract with her (and their agreement with us) and put their child in a nursery instead. They have given a month's notice.
We really want to continue to employ the nanny. This is her first nanny job and she is inexperienced and young but very sweet and great with our kids. However, we can't afford to pay her full wage and we are not going to be able to find another family to share with long term as she will be going on mat leave in a few months.
She really wants to stay with us too, and has said she would work for what we are currently paying, which would mean a 40% pay cut.
There is a family she knows who are looking for short-term, 2-day a week care for one child and if we were happy to share her with them, that would bump up her pay a bit for a few months. We are trying to sort out this arrangement in the coming week.
Our dilemma is what to do when she goes on maternity leave. Obviously if the nanny share was still in place then we would hire a replacement nanny to cover, but on our own we can't afford to do that. She is adamant that she will only take 2 or 3 months off and will have her partner take care of the baby when she returns. If we were sure of that then we'd muddle through with the help of grandparents etc. for a bit, but of course she is fully entitled to change her mind and take up to a year off. If she does that, we can't enter into an arrangement with another family and hire another nanny, because we'll be holding her job open for her.
So, would it be 'safer' from a legal point of view to make her redundant now, because we have good reason (the nanny share has ended)? We really don't want to, but we can't keep her job open for a full year, and can't risk being sued for making her redundant and then hiring another nanny (albeit with a different family in a share).
What we'd like to do is to offer her a new contract (the current one mentions the share, and her total hourly wage which has now changed, so we have do change it anyway). A new contract would specify pay for only our 'share' of what we are paying her, and could be a fixed term, ending, say, 3 months into her mat leave. So if she wanted to return to us then she could. We would pay her accrued leave etc., and together we could look for another family to share her with. Or, she could decide after 3 months on mat leave that she wanted to stay at home longer with her baby and we'd be free to look for another family for a share, and another nanny. This would probably suit both her and us best, but is it legal??
We are being completely open with her about our predicament, and she understands. I very much doubt she would ever take a case against us but we don't want to take any stupid risks.
Sorry for the essay!