AIBU - Nanny wants extra payment

[MoneysTooTightTooMention]

We have an after school Nanny, ie someone who looks after my children for 3 and half hours after school every weekday. That is what she is contracted to do.

This is not a cheap option, by any means and is just about affordable for us if we scrimp in other areas.

Thing is, once a week child B goes to an after school club for an hour and has just started a club 5 minutes drive from us. Child A also does a class twice a week. Child A is in senior school so doesn't really need looking after but isn't comfortable being home alone for more than half hour or so.

Child B has been round a friend's after school today and Child A isn't doing her usual club today.

The Nanny has asked for extra to cover petrol costs for this week. Aibu to feel a bit put out?

You should be paying for all fuel costs in her working hours.

It’s really not your nanny’s problem whether you find it affordable or not. You pay her to look after your children. If she incurs additional costs then they are your problem, not hers. Good nannies are hard to come by so if she is good, look after her or she’ll find another job.

You should be paying her the proper mileage rate , not just the petrol costs.

Unless of course you pay her a car allowance or she uses your car. Why should she be out of pocket to use her own car for her employer ?

Has the Nanny been using her petrol this week in order to take/collect your children to/from wherever they need to be?

If so then it's perfectly acceptable for her to ask for reimbursement. If she hasn't, then it's cheeky of her to ask.

You are BU! Of course you need to cover all her fuel expenses during working hours

Of course YABU, why should she have to pay to take your children any where? You should be covering her fuel costs and mileage for wear and tear on her car, or let her use your car. I'm a bit gobsmacked that you even have to ask 🙄

Why would you think you shouldn't give her this money .
YABU - pay her the extra money it's costing her to drive your kids around!

I can't believe you are questioning whether you need to pay her for this. What a CF!

So have you said yes yet? If not she's probably looking for a new job.

You need to pay her mileage. That's completely standard. The correct rate is 0.45p a mile not just petrol. Sorry OP.

I came on here to side with you but yes, you should pay for petrol. She wouldnt otherwise use the petrol.

However, I've been in a similar situation. Works both ways you know. As soon as I could I cut back.

Mileage whilst on duty is something you should be covering, typically agreed at 45p per mile as is mostly lots of small journeys... mileage payment contributes towards fuel, wear & tear, insurance, cleaning etc.

Nanny is contracted for the hours of care regardless of caring for one or both children, or indeed periods of time when neither may be present.

What was you agreement with regard to your nanny using their car to transport your children?

We do already pay £2.50 a day for petrol which we agreed to in place of a price increase. No formal contract is in place for this. The only differences this week is taking Child B to his new class which is 1.6 miles away (just checked). There and back twice. Suppose I should just suck it up but because we're struggling to meet this cost it just felt a bit much.

Just a side question (and not sure if it is relevant), but does she pay for her own business insurance on her car too?

Yes. Your struggle is irrelevant.

How much extra per month will you have to pay?

Your financial concerns aren’t relevant to what’s fair to her.

People I know looking for a nanny for those hours found it very hard to find anyone and to get candidates had to pay for extra hours of errands/ housekeeping.

It's less than £3 more if you pay her the correct mileage (though if you're wanting to seem reasonable, please just give her £3 not £2.88!!). At that time of day even 1.6 miles could mean a lot of idling in traffic.

While you may be scrimping to pay for her time, the fact you can afford a nanny at all means your not someone living in poverty and can surely find £3 spare

Agree with others your finances aren't her problem. Maybe her own financial situation is very tight and can't just afford to make extra journeys. I suspect that she actually just setting boundaries so you don't accidentally wander into cheeky fucker territory of adding more and more adhoc car trips.

This reminds me of a recent thread where someone was asking if she should provide a meal for a nanny who was doing an extra 4 hours work for her, staying until 10pm rather than the usual 6pm.
I cannot fathom the levels of stinginess people display towards nannies.

Just put her on your insurance instead. Not that much more, Aviva don't count nannies as business use.

OP, I know it's a short journey, but if you're finding the extras money a struggle and she's obviously earning less than you, then it's even worse for her to have to lose out, isn't it?

She shouldn't have to pay money out to do her job. If you can't afford for the nanny to take your DC, could you try lift-sharing with another parent?

Instead of paying £2.50 for petrol a day, why don't you have her submit a mileage form each month and then cover the mileage at £0.45p a mile?
That way she is paid fairly for her mileage, it's written down as a record and you know you're paying only for the miles she does for the job rather than this odd unofficial petrol budget thats not recorded.

That way she is paid fairly for her mileage,

That way she has to wait weeks to be reimbursed for money that she has spent on the op’s children.

Yes you should be reimbursing her for the extra cost incurred.

That way she has to wait weeks to be reimbursed for money that she has spent on the op’s children
That's exactly how workplace mileage claims work in most workplaces.

In fact, I've never been in a workplace that gives me an informal petrol allowance up front regardless of what I drive that week. Every place I've worked I do the mileage and put the mileage form in.
It has nothing to do with her spending money "on the OP's children". It's workplace mileage just like me going to a meeting off site and it's reasonable for it to be treated as such.