Still Pay Nanny??

[LondonLocal]

Not saying whether I am Mum or Nanny so can get unbiased opinions.

Situation:
Family going away for 1 week (5 working days) and doesn't need the nanny to work. Nanny is saying she believes she should still be paid as 'She is still available', Mum believes nanny uses her Annual leave or makes hours up in extra hours/babysitting. Contract states Nanny picks 4 weeks holiday, so Family have no annual leave to use from.

Should Nanny be paid or is it fine to expect Nanny makes up hours?

Thoughts?

So I get 4 weeks plus bank holidays, so 28 days, is this not right? I thought that was standard?

28 days is standard , think 5.6 * 5

Yes 28 days if fulltime

Legally they don't have to give you bank holidays off but you must have a day off in lieu - but 99% of employers do give the actual bank holiday off

A lot of nannies these days do not work 5 equal length days Mon-Fri, so the 4 weeks plus bank holidays does not work. Instead holiday gets calculated in hours, or if every day worked is equal length then it can be calculated in days.

The giving x weeks of choice to nanny does not make sense to me. Whilst parents will try to give their nanny time off when the nanny wants it, there will be times when that is not possible. Other jobs don't have 2 weeks employee choice, so why are nannies getting that? Some years parents may be able to fit in with all the holiday a nanny requests, other years they may not, especially once children start school and the family can not go on their own holiday until school hols.

I agree that you should be paid. But i have always had 2xwks my choice, 2xwk their choice and then if they went over they still paid me. Do you think your boss purposely had the contract set like that, thinking that they could then get away with not paying you when they went away?
I think i would chat with them and either set it so you each choose half the hol, or discuss when you woukd like to take your hols and they can then choose to takw same wks if they want

Ah - it's because your standard working week is 6 days not 5 days. Hadn't realised that.

The standard minimum is 5.6 weeks (so if someone works 2 days a week they get 11.2 days of annual leave which is 5.6 weeks worth to them) but there's a ceiling of 28 days on the statutory minimum so someone who works 6 days a week is only entitled to 28 days off which is significantly less leave pro-rata than someone who works 5 days a week and is also entitled to 28 days off. This seems very unfair to me - a good employer would stick to 5.6 weeks and give you 33.6 days but this government website confirms they aren't obliged to.

The other thing that concerns me OP is that you phrased your opening question about this issue in terms of "still being paid" - I hope you are always paid for your annual leave entitlement - you have the right to paid holiday. Additional unpaid holiday over and above your entitlement is a separate thing that can be negotiated with mutual consent.

nanny gets paid . It is them who are unavailable

Cindy - for those of us given 2 weeks leave of our choice it's still subject to be approved by the employer. If I requested a week and my employer said sorry I'm on a course that week then I'd just choose a different week.
I think if an employer wants to limit holiday to school holidays only this is fine as long as it's been discussed upfront at interview stage.

Sorry missed a bit - most other jobs employees get to choose most of their holidays (with some days taken out for bank hols a maybe a shutdown over Christmas in some offices) and again, subject to employers approval. In fact I can't think of many jobs where an employee wouldn't get any choice at all.

Nanny should get paid and if they want her to work those hours, they should take her on holidays with them and not expect her to do extra when they get back.

Mimic - taking her on holiday with them is a whole new issue. She may have other commitments in the evenings or at the weekend. Babysitting that she would lose the money from. A paid for evening class. A regular sports club she attends. An elderly parent she helps.

Sorry mimi (auto corrected to mimic! )