Unable to continue employing nanny whilst on ML - advice please

[Fishlegs]

Our lovely nanny works for us 2 days a week. I'm on maternity leave after just having dd2. The original plan was to keep the nanny on for the same hours while I'm off, mostly to ease the transition for the dds when I return to work, and so that I can go back after 8 months rather than the 12 I took for dd1.

However it looks as though financially that's not going to be viable. In a perfect world we would keep her on for one day a week until I return to work and she can go back to her previous hours. Obviously this is a big (temporary) drop in wages and I can't see it being doable for her unless she gets a miraculous temporary one day a week job to make up her hours.

Can I legally offer her the reduced hours? If she declines, do I then sack her? Will she need redundancy pay? We are with a payroll company so I can get help with this, I would just like to have an idea before I talk to them. I feel really guilty about this, and gutted we will likely have to let her go, as she is fabulous, so I at least want to get it right.

TIA

How long has she worked for you?

You only paye redundancy if they hav been working two years. But I'm not sure if that aplys to a part time nanny.

You can offer but if she refuses and you won't keep her on her current arrangement then yes you'd have to give her notice. I think she'd get redundancy pay if she's been with you 2 years (but do check).

Obviously if she could find a temporary 1 day job that would be best... otherwise, another option might be a nanny share so she looks after your DD1 and another child and you split the costs? (obviously that means she's not as likely to be able to help with DD2 though, and the nannyshare would probably have to come to an end when you go back to work, but many nannyshares end fairly quickly anyway as one family or the other has another child...)

She has been with us 2 years next month.
Some good ideas there minipie, thanks. She does a day for another family, maybe they would want her for more hours temporarily .

You can't sack her unless you have grounds to do this. You would be making her redundant. Depends on how long she has worked for you as to whether you need to pay her redundancy pay.
But I think the main think is to talk to the nanny. I'm semi retired so it wouldn't bother me. I would understand its not always financially possible.
I work one day a week for two seperate families; so 1 day a week jobs are about, but harder to find.

But most nannies need their income for mortgages/bills and I think you may loose her as it would be easy for her to find another job for two days than one.
Congratulations btw :)

Do you live somewhere with lots of babies/young children?

If so there might very well be someone who quite fancies the idea of a bit of help during their own maternity leave and so might want her for 1 day or 2 days on a shared basis.

0.5 week’s pay for each full year worked when you’re under 22
1 week’s pay for each full year worked when you’re between 22 and 41
1.5 week’s pay for each full year worked when you’re 41 or older

So her redundancy payment will depend on her age.

Yes, I didn't really mean sack her, I did mean make her redundant The redundancy pay is clear, thank you. And thanks for the congrats Florence, dd2 is scrumptious, but the lack.of sleep doesn't help I'm thinking about these things!

There are actually loads of young families around us, and that reminds me, an acquaintance was enquiring about our nanny recently. Maybe there is a way of working it all out.

Yes don't forget nannies get fond of their families too. I wouldn't want to loose my families and would try to work something out.

When would you have to return to work to keep her on?
Do you have an option to go back part time/work flexibly or do you only work 2 days a week already?

I went back to work early but worked from home so I could keep my nanny on and continue to BF. It worked out v well but entirely depends on the job and the employer.