Mobile for nanny -- contract or pay as you talk?

[eleusis]

Have always provided a phone for the nanny, but only on pay as you talk to protect me from an unexpected big bill -- either from a recklessly chatty nanny or even if she should lose the phone and then someone picks it up to phone China for six hours. So pay as you talk has always been my insurance plan against an inflated bill.

But, I'm considering getting a contract phone and saying that what somes with the plan is her to use as she chooses, but if she goes over the difference will be owed back to me.

Does anyone else do this? Did you put it in the contract? Did you ask nanny to sign anything saying she agrees to this arrangement? Is there any way to block a phone when the bill goes over £X in the month?

Incidentally, the budget for the nanny's phone is £35 per month and this will obviously buy a lot more on a contract then it will on a pay as you talk plan.

I think i would stay on pay as you go. I've never had a free phone with a job so you are being very generous which is great and i only spend about £20 a month on my pay as you go anyway. It could be hard getting money back after the fact. Plus there will be no need for insurance or anything. I have an O2 genie card and if i top up i think it's £10 a month i get 300 free texts and you get credit back for time you have spennt talking it's a great deal really.

Most nannies have their own phones, so why don't you just contribute a set amount for them to increase their calling plan or something?

That way you don't get 'hit' with a big bill.

Alternatively O2 have just launched their 'simplicity' tarif which might be worth a look

Well, I expect her to be available on the phone at all times when she is at work (within reason -- obviously if they are at the cinema she won't be available), and in return I think it's only fair if I provide that phone. If she wants to chat away to her friends on the phone, that's fine. But that will be at her expense.

Doesn't anyone else buy their nanny a mobile??

I don't

Only one of my nanny friends has a mobile exclusively for work.

Their employers buy them a top up card or give them a monthly allowance.

Sorry- my second sentence related to the others

First nanny friend has a PAYG phone, but also takes her personal one everywhere so has to carry two.

Having had a phone bill from a previous AP of over £170 for two weeks which I had no way of getting back - DON'T DO IT eleusis..... At least with PAYG if they have no credit, they can't call.

Also, who's to say she doesn't set herself up for web-content and they you get lumbered with a £21,000 bill as someone did the other week. Better to know your limits and stick with-in them, than be lumbered with a bill you cannot pay.

I do find all APs to be terribly naive in terms of cost of calls over here and expect a text home to be cheap so they spend the first few weeks doing this, then get stung for a big bill.

I had a work phone, that was provided (MBs old mobile but still relatively new) and that was PAYG.

Well, I was going to tell her that the £35 per month plan is on me. But, if she loses the phone, she needs to replace it. (and there is not an option to not replace it) and 2 any additional charges incurred on the phone will be have to be paid back.

And I do have a way of getting it back because I could just deduct it from her next month's wages.

I can't believe I'm the only one who does this. I thought I was the stingiest employer on mumsnet. You are all ruining my reputation. Ruining it!!!

And, I'm slightly less generous than you think. I want a new phone. So I was going to get a new one on the plan I get for her and give her a slightly less cool model.

I gave my AP a payg, I give her a £10 top up a month.

Anything else is down to her, my stipulation being that she always has £2.50 credit in case of emergencies.

Yeah, that's for sure. At least when it comes to phone bills.

eleusis - every single AP I've had has had a lot more smarter/up-to-date phone than us - have you asked her if she already has a phone or is planning to bring her own? You will probably find the first weekend she is here, she'll trot off to the phone shop and buy a better model anyway. Young girls of today have different priorities and a flash phone is top of them!