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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

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Original poster

Should I pay?

31 replies

BlossomOnTrees · 19/03/2021 15:21

Employed a nanny and she was meant to start a month ago but circumstances meant I had to withhold the position for about 6 weeks. She said she was not OK to wait for this long and would have to withdraw her offer of help. But she also wants paying for the time she has waited saying that although she has done no actual work for me, we still verbally entered a contract. So she is now asking for 2 weeks worth of pay. Is this right? I understand her frustration but there was always a job at the end so it's not like I cancelled the role entirely?

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Kattenzz · 19/03/2021 15:23

No, if she didn't sign anything then you don't have to pay her. She's trying it on.

steelserenade · 19/03/2021 15:25

You don't have to sign anything to have an employment contract.

Speak to Acas.

Titsinknicks · 19/03/2021 15:25

Verbal contracts are binding. What was your first agreement, what was the notice period? I would pay her if you massively changed the start date, yes.

zzzebra · 19/03/2021 15:29

Did she sign a contract with you? Or have you put in writing offer and the original start date?

Also how much notice have you given her that she's not required for another 6 weeks?

I'm pretty sure you'll need to pay her the notice period that's stated in the contract, usually 2-4weeks.

Could you come to an agreement where you give her partial payment for the 6 weeks delay? She probably had bills to pay and potentially wouldn't have applied for the position if she'd known it wasn't going to start for 2+ months.

Titsinknicks · 19/03/2021 15:29

If you were offered a job and the employer said actually I don't need you for much longer you'd be pissed off. It's not like the bank will wait for the mortgage payment... I'm fairly sure legally you have to and morally it's the right thing to do

Lochroy · 19/03/2021 15:32

I don't think your logic of 'there was always a job at the end of it' really works because what did you expect her to do in the mean time - go for six weeks without pay?

Can you clarify on the timings? How long after verbally offering her the job did you then say you needed to delay?

womaninatightspot · 19/03/2021 15:34

I've known employers to withdraw an offer of employment after everything is agreed. Happened to a friend of mine nothing he could do. Despite the fact he'd quit his job.

You've changed the start date, she's decided she no longer wants the job. Morally you should pay her, legally you don't have to.

Original poster

BlossomOnTrees · 19/03/2021 15:36

It was a week after interview that I told her.
Hadn't started the formal process of contracts as yet as wanted to give it a trial run first. Nothing was signed.

OP posts:

Clymene · 19/03/2021 15:37

Well if you left one job for a new one starting Monday but when you turned up on Monday, they told you they didn't need you for a month, would you just go home and spend a month without pay? Or would you think they should pay you given you'd handed in your notice on your old job?

Titsinknicks · 19/03/2021 16:01

Did you offer her the job on day of interview? And if so when did you say the expected start date was before changing it a week later?

Or did you interview her, then a week later offer her the job saying the start would be later than expected?

NannyR · 19/03/2021 16:07

I think the morally right thing to do would be to pay her. If you've offered her a job, she may have then turned down other work in the expectation that she would be starting work for you. To be then told that she would have a period of six weeks with no pay, could cause her financial stress - I know I would struggle in that situation.

Original poster

BlossomOnTrees · 19/03/2021 17:35

I interviewed her and gave her the start date. Then it changed a week later.

OP posts:

PotteringAlong · 19/03/2021 17:38

If you gave her the start date you pay her from the start date

imalmostthere · 19/03/2021 17:40

Yes you should pay. It's not her fault you pushed it back and you entered Into a verbal agreement. You can't really have expected her to live off of nothing for 6 weeks so it was more convenient for you?

Blackdog19 · 19/03/2021 17:41

I think you should pay. You gave her a start date.

NerrSnerr · 19/03/2021 17:45

I agree you should pay her from the start date.

I suspect if you're getting a nanny you have a decent wage coming in, sometimes people with money forget that others actually can't go a number of weeks without pay or she may not be able to pay her rent and bills.

May17th · 19/03/2021 17:48

If you want to use her OP in the future surely you would pay her. She may need to the money and will planned her finances around that start date like most of us would.

Midlifephoenix · 19/03/2021 17:50

I think you should pay her for the two weeks she's asking.

ThisMustBeMyDream · 19/03/2021 17:51

@NerrSnerr. Bit of an assumption to make. I had a Nanny because of shift work hours as a single parent. I was on a low wage topped up with tax credits.

Mylittlesandwich · 19/03/2021 17:53

I mean I was offered a job by a large company. Given a start date by said company. Turned up to their office and was told I actually started almost a month later. It was shit. I don't know the legal stance but morally you probably should give her something.

zzzebra · 19/03/2021 17:54

As a minimum you should pay her the notice period, which I think is usually 2 weeks during the probationary period.

If you want to keep her and have a good relationship I'd apologise and pay her full wages for the 6 weeks. If you don't need childcare in this time you could ask if she'd be happy with helping out around the house with other things instead.

If you want to keep her and aren't fussed about having a good relationship (heaven knows why) then offer to pay a percentage of her wages for the 6 weeks to tide her over.

NerrSnerr · 19/03/2021 18:27

@ThisMustBeMyDream I expect you'd pay your nanny then from when you'd given a start date as you'd realise that not everyone has enough money to get by without a wage.

Maybe not everyone who has a nanny is rich (which is why I said a suspect) but more often than not. We looked at getting a full time nanny as an option when I returned after maternity leave and it was more than my full time wage- which is above National average and more expensive than a childminder or nursery.

ThisMustBeMyDream · 19/03/2021 19:07

It is irrelevant what I would or wouldn't do. I am fed up of the assumption that because people use a nanny that they are rich. It isn't the case.
Where I am Nannies don't earn that much as they don't have a big market up here (Northern town). My nanny cost me £1000 per month for 26 hours a week.

GintyMcGinty · 19/03/2021 19:10

The decent thing, and ethical thing, to do would be to pay her.

backinthebox · 19/03/2021 19:13

You can't offer her a start date then decide you would like her to start weeks later and not pay her in the meantime. I employed a nanny and when my maternity leave ended I was injured and unable to return to work straight away, I still had to pay my nanny from the start date we'd agreed, even though I didn't go back to work for another 14 weeks. I imagine she is looking at you trying to wriggle out of paying her the time you've agreed with her and thinking 'if this is how the job starts, it could be a horror of a position,' and wondering how to get out of it. In the meantime, she has made herself available for you and you don't want her then. This is not her fault, and her bills will not pay themselves. Act like a grown up and pay her.

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