From a parents point of view please.... PAYING your nanny!

[NannyL]

Ok just wondering views on this!
Ive been in my job 6 months now and its perfect and i LOVE it in everyway. my bosses are great and its 3 mins from my home! ALL perfect EXCEPT they still havant paid me for february!
Also since starting there in september i have never been paid on time! been paid on 16th twice, 9th once 19th once and 4th once, and its now the 25th and i STILL havent been paid!
Until this month EVERY time it REALLY WAS the banks fault! (im always 'good' and reasonable about it and just say dont worry, boss goes to bank, 'sorts' it and a week later moeny finally has left his account hung around in 'no-where-land' for a few days and arrived in My account.
BUT its now getting rediculouse.
To be fair this month i didnt mention it to my boss until 9th march BUT I WAS AWAY ON HOLIDAY so didnt have much chance (and surely its clear on their bank anyway?)
He (convinced it was the banks fault again) didnt actually even GO to the bank for a whole week but he went demanding they pay me THAT DAY but (for the 1st time it WAS actually HIS fault, he hadnt ticked a box or something). Anyway im really not worried that he made a mistake, he is after all only a person and we all make mistakes sometimes! it was apparently sorted last friday so £ should have made it into my account of thursday...
BUT they didnt so its now banks fault again. I didnt find out until i got home on thursday night and on Friday morning my boss left as i walked in and i didnt see them until 6pm ie after banks closed.
Im now getting REALLY REALLY frustrated... I have NEVER been paid later EVER in any other job ever before (been working as a nanny for over 7 years now!)
I figure after 6 months its really SHOULD be sorted right now shouldnt it? We both have internet banking after all and its 2007!
My mum thinks i should demand a chapps payment which will cost my bosses £30 when i go to work on tuesday (i dont work mondays)... is this fair? (i think so!)
My step dad thinks i shouldnt go in to work until im paid , but a) that is VERY unproffesional (and thats not how i am.... surely if i refused to go to work they would then refuse to pay me?)
b) its now the holidays and we have lots of exciting things planned that I am looking forward to!
c) if i dont go to work sick people eitehr dont have operations (if mb is at home) or dont have a GP to see for their appointments (if db is at home!)
BUT i have a mortgage etc to pay as well and i CANT AFFORD to not be paid much longer.
so if you were my boss what would u do? If i said go to bank now and pay me by chapps would you consider that unreasonable?
Also what about all the interest i havent earned on not having my money for a whole month?
so far in 6 months ive been paid 87 days late and counting

Can't they pay you by standing order? I would be pissed off about this.

As for from a parent pov - I don't have a nanny, but if I did, I'd bloody well make sure she was paid on time!

well every month it keeps being set up! (again)

every month it is supposed to be working now...

I really dont understand why it still isnt working...

my boss has been into the bank to complain SO MANY times.... every month actually!

every month "it is now set up 'properly' and will work next time"

It's not good enough, you have the right to be paid on time. Put your foot down NannyL. Your mumis right - insist they o something about this NOW - chapps payment douns good - and it doesn't happen again!!

Can you not ask for them to pay you in cash for now? Even giving you a post-dated cheque on say the 25th of the month, that you could bank on the 30thwould be better than this. Definitely not on.

well i could...

but i don't have any time AT ALL this week (with or without the children) to go to the bank! (i have so much going on at the moment including close relative now being in hospital!)

and also i feel very strongly that in 2007 i really should not have to get up early on my saturday morning and que to go into town and pay to park just to be paid!

also i am NOT happy to carry that much cash around with me fullstop! and even if i was i doubt that the bank would let them withdraw that much cash without 'preordering' it 1st!

This is a disgrace. Tell them that your mortgage payment bounced costing you £30 and that two cheques bounced at £20 fees each.

Ask them to reimburse you - and I'm sure they will never pay you late again.

totally not on. I have always paid my standing order and have never had a problem like this. either their bank is extra-ordinarily incompetent or they are bull-shitting you and it's their fault. once - in 4 years of having a nanny our standing order bounced because we'd gone over the od limit - it went into the account about 3 days late and I paid the nanny the £30 she was charged for going over her limit. if you've incurred any costs because of this then they really should pay. I know you're an experienced nanny who probably knows better than me how to broach things - but fwiw my advice would be that you have to broach it in a very clear way. tell them that you really can't continue with this sort of uncertainty, ask them to pay any costs you've incurred (that will shake them up a bit) and tell them that you consider the next 3 months a trial period and if you;re not paid on time every month you'll have to consider looking elsewhere - I doubt very much this will backfire - they need a kick up the arse. The only possible source of it backfiring is if they're actually going too much od each month and, in reality, can;t really afford a nanny - maybe they didn;t look into it properly re all the tax etc.

that was meant to say: by standing order

hatwoman!

thank you for your reply!

I KNOW they can affford me... once boss is a consultant another a locum GP so they can... and also things like bank statements are ocasionaly left around and i know they can afford me no problem!

I honestly genuinely belive the bank is extra-ordinarily Incompetant! (like my old bank... another story grrrrrr)

as it is amazingly im still not overdrawn just (but by the end of the week i will be) and havent had any charges yet.... but i COULD have done! Fell like working out all the hypothetical charegs and telling them that IF i havnt jiggeod my other £ around it would have cost me £x. (im hopeless at lying and there is no way i could say i have been chraged when i havent!)

I do however have an account that pays me proper good interest (as long as im paid) and now for 2 months i will forfit my good interst raTE (AND INTEREST) due to money not having enetered my account in march which is NOT my fault!

Also i hate talking about money stuff! which i know is silly! as much as i love looking after my 2 boys i do do it to be paid and not as a favour lol!

I'm sorry to hear about your problem, but I really can't believe you looked at their bank statements, even if they were left out. It's unlikely you're aware of all of their financial commitments anyway. Lots of people look at this site when they're considering whether to hire a nanny - don't discourage them.

thats rubbish. you can set up your own standing orders if you have online banking. dont need to sign anything.

tell them you cant afford the delays. you are about to go overdrawn (even if not) and you will be unable to afford petrol/transport to get to your workplace if they cant pay you on time.

I wouldn't wait to go into work .. I'd phone him now and ask for payment for February and March in cash as you are incurring bank charges

tell him that you have been as patient as possible and the situation is just totally unacceptable

it is lax and demonstrates a lack of respect that it has been 6 months and isn't sorted out

I am really horrified that you would look at your employer's bank statements - another reason I am so glad I dont have a nanny anymore!

I agree with Twiglett.

I've never used a nanny, but I have paid my childminder on time all the time for six years. Anything else just isn't on.

The bank statement issue is separate, people. The woman needs paying. And in fact her employers' financial situation isn't the point either - they owe the money. End of.

they can do a direct payment into your account via the internet ,i do it all the time its easy, i assume hey have internet banking set up..it takes minutes... if all else fails take a cheque for this month and next month too as compensation , and making sure you get your money

NannyL that's completely unacceptable. 22 years ago we took on our first nanny and we always paid on time always. I would make it absolutely first prority. Our lives work children all depended on the nanny.

I don't underst and the standing order thing. I have lots of standing orders. I pay my student children by standing order every week. I can set that up on line with on line banking. It doesn't need visits to branches. I can vary it on line. Interestingly it isn't always paid on exactly the same day and it is always a few days after it's set up for for some reason so with one daughter's rent I set it up to pay the landlord 3 days early just in case the bank are slow.

Ask them if they bank on line and can go and check the SO dates. Ask them which day it will leave their account each month and when their bank say it will reach yours and make sure they pay the blacklog anyway.

The problem for your employers is if the bank are about to pay then you'll get paid twice but I would tell them you need everything owed paid in cash by Friday and then if you end up being double paid by the bank you will pay it back...
Just read hst Twigless says. That is what I would say. The veiled threat can be you won't be in work on Monday unless they have the cash there (or partly a cheque if they can't get that much cash out). They can probably get out £500 cash on the bank card and another £500 on each credit card they have as well by the way.

Know you only really want parents views, but having thought about this a bit, may be best to break it two into two separate issues:

1. Pay owed to end of February.
2. Pay for March.

The pay for February should be made immediately by your employer. Using internet banking, a payment can be processed very quickly - if done tonight, will be processed by bank on Monday, and in your account my Thursday at latest (payments take 3 working days).

SO should be setup correctly for March payment, such that the funds arrive at your account in the first few days of April.

Query: what about payslips... if there have been issues in paying, have you still been getting the payslips?

Some of my parents paid me by IBanking, I had to stop it, as It was taking up to 10 days from them paying it to me receiving it!! I am with HSBC.

just to add their bank statements were left IN the nanny diary!

She could be paid in cash each Friday which is what we did, not because we weren't paying any tax (we always paid it) but because she didn't have a bank account and anyway the money is then there in cleared funds on Friday night for that week.

thank you!

yes i could be paid in cash each week but the thing is i REALLY dont want to be

I want to be paid monthly (as i always have been) and as all my bills go out of my account monthly!
As everything goes in and out of my account (i very rarely use cash at all (EVERYTHING is basically a direct debit or on credit card which is then paid each month by direct debit i want my money to go into my account every month!

It cant be that much of a problem!

Also to complicate matters my bosses are away this weekend so i cant go round there now or anything!

I think on Tuesday when i get there, i will just say look this is rediculouse, i need to be paid and i need to be paid today and no I am not going to go to the bank either!

worst case scenario they can pay £30 for a chapps transfer or however much there bank want to charge them, and they can then argue that with incompetant natwest!

Also to clarify i dont 'look' through their bank statemenets at all..... BUT my boss for whatever reason has put it in the nanny diary... (its still there now actaully)

My boss and i Use the diary to communicate with each other, which often involves leaving pieces of paper eg letters from school, our music group etc in there for the otehr one to read.... therefore yes i did look at the piece of paper! Its quite thick and has a few pages but i havnt even opened it and wouldnt dream of either... but the account summary is ON the front!

so PLEASE dont be that hard on me!

also anything i see in the house is confidential anyway! so i really dont see the problem.

In fact in my old job i actually had a signed non-disclosure agreement on behalf of my old bosses buisness, which i am saying no more about!

This makes me so mad, why is it that a nanny/childminder's wages are not considered very important at all by some employers? You can bet your life, NannnyL that if your employers were payed late and then had to actually chase their wages themselves, month after month there would be an uproar. Why is your morgage less important than theirs?

I think you need to get tough with your employers. No matter how nice they are, they are taking the piss, it's not good enough to keep blaming the bank, THEY are responsible for making sure you get paid, the fact that there have been problems should make them even more on the ball, not less.

I hope you get things sorted soon.

I must admit though I was a little horrified that you read their bank statements, even if they were left lying around. This is really not on and having read a lot of your posts where you come across as highly professional, I was really suprised. I don't mean to sound all 'holier than thou' this is just my opinion.

I do agree with an earlier poster though that this is beside the point, you should get paid on time, every month, without having to fight for it.

thank you.... perhaps while im talking to them i will say to my boss.... Oh here is your bank statement which has been in the nanny diary for the past month!

just being pedantic but its a statement and not statements that THEY have put in the nanny diary... and as i said we put pieces of paper in there that we want each other to look at and read!

I am very sorry if looking at a piece of paper that is put in the equivilent of my 'inbox' is SO BAD, and I havent even opened it, just looked to see what it is! and has a summary of the front!