sick pay for nanny?

[geekgrrl]

just wondering what the usual agreement is - my friend (an experienced speech & language therapist) works as a live-in nanny for a family with 3 v. young children, one with severe SN. She works 50 hpw with one day off for £160. She's from Germany and took the job as a good way of leaving the country, and being unaware of how much more expensive everything is here.

My friend is now sick and her employer has told her that any time off over 3 days will be deducted from her meagre wage. Her employer is a SAHM and employs 3 household staff (just to point out that this isn't leaving anyone in a horrendous pickle re. work).

She's obviously unhappy about this - she's not sure what's in her contract and hasn't checked yet as she's completely bed-bound at the moment, I was wondering what the usual agreement re. sick leave is?

I'm so cross on her behalf - we've been friends since we were 10 and she is the most conscientous and reliable person I've ever known, an deserves better treatment.

that's quite unfair.

I think illegal too, though her employer only has to pay statutary sick pay (which she csan claim back), not the full wage.

I assume the 160 per week is after tax though?

The pay sounds a bit low for the hours? Where does she work?

She is sticking to the letter of the law, which requires employers to pay statutory sick pay if an employee is ill. SSP does not kick in until after 3 days of sickness - so the first 3 days of sickness are not paid for.

Having said that, virtually every person I know that employs a nanny pays full pay if they are off ill!

soapbox - no she isn't, she's saying that she'll pay 3 days but no more. perhaps she's misunderstood the law?

Ahh sorry - then anything over 3 days can be claimed as SSP - so no cost to the employer anyway - always provided that they are paying her tax and NI!!!

tell her to look for another job as soon as she's back on her feet

it's before tax and she's in Huddersfield. I think she's got a really crap deal TBH - she does 7-9am and then 3:30-8:30pm weekdays (one day off) and weekends from 7am - 8:30pm - actually, that works out at 57 hours. She doesn't get a proper break at the weekends.

I think her main problem is the fact that she won't be getting her NI number until next week - she's been working for them since early December.

I'll tell her (again) to ditch this job and get something else.
She was keen on working with a child with complex SN - there's a nanny agency for nannies wanting to work with children with SN though, isn't there?

well, assuming £100 a week for bed and board, that's still below the minimum wage isn't it? I'd emply her if we had space

I am sure the German girl has got it wrong. As everyone else says the employer can pay you nothing for 3 days and then after that you are paid at state Sick pay rates. I am sure that is what the employer is offering. She should obviously check that out. She could also check if she is protected by the minimum wage and if she is depending on her age etc whether she is paid as much as she ought under that too.

xenia she's not got it wrong. Her English is excellent. She's 31 btw.
I thought the minimum wage didn't apply to live-in staff?

afaik min wage applies, but employers are entitled to deduct a "reasonable" sum for bed and board. personally I don't think much more than £100 a week is reasonable in huddersfield but I don't know how they work it out.

She should get SSP from day 3 onwards and yes, minimum wage does not apply for live-in jobs.
Hope she finds a new job soon..and hope that they are paying her NI/tax at least!
Does she want to live in that area? There is a big market for live-in childcarers in the south, with, as mentioned before wages being more like 200-300net per week.

I've got 2 children with speech problems and would jump at the chance to employ a nanny with speech and language qualifications!

That sounds right then. So no pay for 3 days and after that SSP at £70 a week and minimum wage doesn't apply as she lives in.

it should be in the contract. our contract says full pay for 3 days then ssp. fortunately we;ve never had to cover more than the odd day or two. whilst not defending the low wage in this particular case, many people would be screwed by having to pay much more than ssp. 3 days I can cover myself, longer than that I'd be looking at getting paid cover. any paid cover would essentially mean that I'd be paying 100 odd quid a day to go to work.

I mean that literally - nanny pay, plus paying for a cover would come to £100 a day more than i earn

Cynically 22 years after I first started paying nannies I have found that not paying for those first three days (which is lawful) is a pretty good means of making someone with a slight sniffle struggle into work.

Geekgerrl....tell your friend to look on this site for jobs with SN children
www.snapchildcare.co.uk/

Ref the sickpay...my boss has always payed fullpay for ANY time of work sick....i'm just lucky i guess