Bank Holiday pay for a p/t nanny??

[Elibean]

We have a newish p/t nanny/mothers help who normally works Monday mornings - obviously, we will pay her for Bank Holiday days, but if she chooses to work on one, do we pay time and a half? Or double pay?

My currently sleep-deprived brain has seized up over this one...please help me out someone!

Entirely up to you to decide what you want to pay, and then for your nanny to agree to what you want to pay.
You could offer time and a half, plus a day off in lieu. Or you could offer double-pay.
Once you have agreed a suitable rate, I would suggest adding it to the Contract, so that if working a bank holiday is required in future, you can easily refer to what you had agreed previously.

I thought you had to give her the day off -- or possibly another one in lieu? Is this not the case?

elibean it's not for her to choose whether to work on one or not, that's for you to decide.

If your contract says she gets bank holidays off as well as other holiday entitlement, then that's what happens. There is no obligation to give bank holidays off as long as the person gets the holiday entitlement they get by law - you can choose when they take it if you want to and you can choose to have some of it taken on bank holidays if you want to.

So whether she works bank holidays is up to you and whether you need her on them, and what you pay her if you decide you want her to work rather than take it off is for negotiation between you. If working bank holidays is something you think you might need then you should consider putting something in your contract.

what does your contract say?

I cant see any nanny WANTING to work a bank holiday monday if they can get it off paid tbh

If I did ever work one, then I would want double pay rather than a day off in lieu

Thanks, all! She's just started, and we're working on the contract...both of us tend to be the sort to be worried about not giving the other one enough, IYSWIM, so negotiations are slow going (and quite funny at times).

I didn't know Bank Holiday days off was optional, good to know - though doubt we'd ask her to work on them very often.

Many thanks, don't know what I'd do without MN

Elibean - If you haven't seen it already, check out my thread about Holiday Entitlement, as it contains information which is likely to be useful to you with regard to Bank and Public Holidays, plus how to calculate holiday entitlement for a part-time employee.

That's interesting. I work P/T (not as a nanny) and BH are considered compulsory holiday days, taken out of my annual leave. AFAIK (perhaps I should re-read my contract).

Perfectly acceptable for an employer to insist that an employee takes a Bank Holiday off, as part of their annual leave. However, annual leave rules have are undergoing changes to accommodate that. See my previous post on this thread for a link to further info about the changes to holiday entitlement.

Thanks for the links. I've read them and I'm going to check about BH at work. Although I see it's still legal, given the whole place is shut down on BH, I think it's cheeky. I'll ask.

I have just been talking to a neighbour who empoloys a part time nanny. She is having issues over bank holiday. In short, nanny thinks she should be paid for bank holidays on top of her holiday entitlemnt.
Neighbour thinks that she should take bank holidays out of her holiday. I think she is wrong.

Going by the nannytax website, which I believe she is using, then BH have to be paid extra:

"Holiday Pay
Up until recently all employees in the UK were entitled by law to 4 weeks paid leave every year. New holiday legislation has now been introduced and as of 1st October 2007 all employers are required to give at least 4 bank holidays as paid leave in addition to the 4 weeks. That means that all employees will now be entitled to 4.8 weeks holiday per year.

If you work on a part-time basis and you want to know how many days you are entitled to, simply multiply the number of days you work each week with 4.8. The total should be rounded up to the nearest 1/2 day."

But it entirely depends on the contract. You cannot say who is wrong until you see the contract. If the contract says that holiday includes bank hols, then nanny must take bank hols out of her holiday; and vice versa.

If you include bhs in holiday entitlement, then min holiday is 4.8 weeks. If you don't, then min holiday is 4 weeks (and nanny would additionally get at least 4 days paid bhs off).

But then the contract needs to be amended. Nannytax CLEARLY states that LEGALLY everyone is entitled to PAID bank holidays?

firstly nannytax does NOT say that. all it says is that everyone is entitled to at least 4 paid bhs. There are 8 bhs in one year, so the legal min does not entitle you to take all of them off as paid leave.

Secondly there are two ways of giving nannies paid bhs, each entirely legitimate. one is to include it in the hol entitlement (4.8 weeks min), one is to exclude it from hol entitlement (4 weeks min) but then give at least 4 bhs off as extra.

The second arragenment is more ambiguous if the contract does not mention bank hols - then you get into an argument about whether you are giving the legal min of 4 only, or whether you're giving the max of 8 in a year.

You need to cehck contract to see which arrangement you've got.

Of course all of this is proratad for PT workers.

I feel that the NannyTax website is wrong - "all employers are required to give at least 4 bank holidays as paid leave in addition to the 4 weeks". Nannies don't have to get Bank Holidays off, in fact some parents may NEED a nanny to work on a Bank Holiday. Please refer to Government sources for information regarding this kind of thing, not to a payroll agency. The change is that the number of days of annual leave has been increased. Current entitlement is 4.8 weeks, which is due to rise to 5.6 weeks in April 2009. Part-Time workers would have their entitlement calculated pro-rata. Use this calculator.
BERR - Bank Holiday FAQ explains much of what anyone will want to know, in reasonable simple terms.

Ultimately, if an employee is expected to work on a Public or Bank Holiday, and the arrangements for pay on those days, is governed by their employment contract. It is perfectly acceptable for an employer to ask an employee to take Bank Holidays as part of their annual leave (see ACAS - Will I automatically get paid leave on Public Holidays?.

So one site says it's the law, one site says it isn't.

Is it just nannies that are exempt, or is it ACTUALLY not the law?

I'll contact my friend who is an employment lawyer, I'm sure she'll be able to give a correct answer on it.

The Government sites will be the right ones... ACAS and BERR.

PLEASE no one rely on the Nannytax website for legal advice, it's full of errors. I took one look at it when looking for a payroll company for my nanny and immediately disregarded them because of the inaccurate and misleading information they are giving to parents.

Wow, very interesting links and info - thank you again.

I think the 'entitled to 4 BHs per annum' - legal or not - might feel good for us, contract-wise, given that our nanny is p/t and working hours that fit into her other job (ie Mondays were picked as much for her needs as ours). Feels fair.

This Monday, we're paying her and she's not working - got that far! But she's doing a babysitting for us in the evening (not usual) and we're paying normal rate for that.

do most of you employers get bh paid for?

if you do, then think it is fair to pay your nanny her bh

i work part time, and i get paid for bh if they fall on my work days, ie mondays but not easter friday as dont work fridays

I don't think the employers BH entitlement is relevant to the nanny's. The relevant comparison is another nanny job. That being said, I do think most nannies get BH paid.

never not had a BH paid in 25 yrs nannying .

it shouldnt make a difference whether you are a nanny or an office worker/lawyer etc mb - assume if the nanny is part time,then the mb would work part time

if YOU get paid bh, then I would find it very mean of the employer NOT to pay their nanny bh

as a fulltime nanny I have never not been paid for a bh- but as i part time nanny I feel if the bh day falls on the day the nanny would normally work,then they should be paid for it

in the end, it depends what both nanny and mb agree to in the contract - i personally wouldnt take on a job that didnt pay me bhs and wouldnt sign the contract till i was happy with all the points