Nanny maternity leave, furlough and annual leave

[JADS]

Our pregnant nanny is currently furloughed due to ill health and issues with childcare.

She is due to go on Mat leave, but has about 8 days of annual leave to take. Our contract states 50:50 choice of dates.

Can I trigger her Mat leave to start at 36 weeks? Also can I insist she takes annual leave beforehand?

(My judgement is somewhat coloured at the moment at the moment because our replacement nanny is absolutely marvellous and I feel like our old nanny is a bit of a piss taker)

Is it ill health related to pregnancy? It can be triggered at 36 weeks if off with a pregnancy related illness. I think you can determine when annual leave can be taken. You need to give enough notice beforehand (is it double the amount of time they are taking e.g. if you want them to take 1 week you give 2 weeks notice). You would give full wages for the holiday days

Thank you. Yes, her ill health is pregnancy related. I have colleagues who are shielded from 28 weeks and working from home so I wondered if the ill health situation still applies.

That's what I understood with AL too with regards to notice. I'm just trying to make out if I can make her take the full allowance now (while I can still claim furlough and just top up the 20% )

Ummmm she's furloughed because she's sick? Pretty sure that's not what it's there for and if you are employing somebody to do her job you are claiming furlough fraudulently. You should be paying her sickpay as per your contract.

She can’t be on AL and furlough at the same time. It’s one or other. AL must be 100% pay. She may refuse to go on AL because she’s sick but then, if not on furlough, she’d be getting whatever your sick pay agreement it. If SSP she may prefer AL. She’ll be owed AL over her mat leave (and pension etc) too if she continues to be employed by you. If you let her go and keep new nanny she may sue you so I’d be very careful. Also be careful with furloughing her but employing someone else.

Yes you can be on annual leave and furlough at the same time. If on annual leave you give full wages for the leave period and then go back to furlough pay

Furloughed workers

Workers on furlough can take holiday without disrupting their furlough. The notice requirements for their employer requiring a worker to take leave or to refuse a request for leave continue to apply. Employers should engage with their workforce and explain reasons for wanting them to take leave before requiring them to do so.

If an employer requires a worker to take holiday while on furlough, the employer should consider whether any restrictions the worker is under, such as the need to socially distance or self-isolate, would prevent the worker from resting, relaxing and enjoying leisure time, which is the fundamental purpose of holiday.

She has been furloughed due to childcare issues as she already has an older child who, in part, can't access childcare as she is ill.

I'm going to seek proper advice, but thank you @dementedpixie. That is very useful as a starting point.

www.gov.uk/guidance/holiday-entitlement-and-pay-during-coronavirus-covid-19 it was from here

I’ve been involved in furlough claims since last March and a lot of employers required staff on furlough to take a certain amount of holiday during their furlough. If you did this you can still claim the 80% through the cjrs and you pay the 20% top up to a full days pay. Otherwise businesses would have had staff coming back from furlough and then when they could open staff taking accrued holiday for weeks on end. Only thing I’m not sure on is if you can force to take holiday when sick

You absolutely can take AL during furlough - I had to take 75% of my annual leave whilst on furlough so that I never returned to work with more that 25% of my leave budget remaining.