Coming to a natural end, what do I have to do ?

[AngelaChill]

I've been offered a nursery place which is ideal for us and the other two children are now at school so we no longer really need a nanny. Therefore can I just give her a months notice and say we don't need her anymore ?

TIA

How long has the nanny been in your employment? (finding out if there will be a situation of you paying redundancy pay)

You mention a notice period, so I will presume you have a contract in which it states the notice period required if your nanny wishes to leave, or you wish to dispense with their services. You will need to honour that notice period.

Will you write her a reference? Will you take phone calls from prospective employers of the nanny?

she's been with us 11 months, more than happy to pay a months notice.

Redundancy

Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, I think your situation is:
"the employer has ceased, or intends to cease, to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was so employed"

Redundancy Pay
To qualify for redundancy pay, your employee (nanny) has to have had 2 years of continious service. So therefore you DO NOT have to provide redundancy pay.

Therefore it's going to be quite easy:

1. Tell your employee (nanny) that your circumstances have changed and that you will no longer be needing them to care for the children from X Date. You can discuss it if you want, as perhaps the nanny would just work after-school, if thats something that would work for both of you.

2. Write to your emplpyee, stating reasons for their dismissal on grounds of redundancy. State that there is no redundancy pay due to employee having been in your service for 12 months (11 months plus notice period). State the last working day, and any arrangements you are making regarding the notice period. For example, you may want your nanny to work their notice period, or you may want have their last working day as the start of their notice period. If the latter, state in the letter that you do not object to them starting a new job during the notice period, and in such an event they will still be paid their months notice. This then gives the nanny a month to look for a new job, and if they find one quicky, they can take up the new job without having to wait for the end of the notice period.

3. Write a reference for your employee, include on the reference your contact details (phone, email, address) so that future employers can contact you.

4. Issue your employee with a P45 as soon as you can produce it. Consult employers Helpline if you need help producing that document.

5. Keep in touch with your employee (nanny) so that you know where to send P60 and any other legal paperwork come April 2007.

6. If you found your nanny via an agency, contact the agency and let them know the situation, and see if the agency will take the nanny back on their books. This can help as the agency can just update the nannies file, and they can get a verbal and written reference from you.

Hope that's of help.

That's brilliant, thank you ver much.

Can't you just give her notice and tell your employer that in a month you'll be totally reliable childcare-wise?

Yes in theory that would work. The current situation is worrying me though because I don't want to let her go if she is ill. If she's ill and employed surely she gets more in incapacity benefit than if she's unemployed and ill.