Nannys and holiday entitlement/allowance

[littleolwinedrinkerme]

Hi - we have recently taken on a p/t nanny and wondered what the etiquette was around holidays. We have proposed 4 weeks holiday a year and was going to insist on 2 of the weeks being when we were away. Clearly there are going to be times when we are on holiday and she does not need to work - do you normally still give full pay or half pay - how dies it work? Thankyou!

Basic minimum legal holiday entitlement is 5.6 weeks a year, so you're going to have to increase the 4 weeks you propose.

Imo if you decide to go away when the nanny isn't on holiday, you pay her full pay - it's not her fault she can't come to work!

You have to give a minimum of 5.6 week paid holiday, I think you can include bank holidays in that (if she works them). Normal etiquette is you choose half and she chooses half. If you want to take extra holiday then you still have to pay her.

Law says 20 days plus bank holidays, all paid in full. So if you are doing part time (say 3 days a week, rather than 5) you need to scale it down appropriately (eg 3 day week = 28 / 5 X 3 = 17 days paid holiday per annum). Then standard is that you split that amoutn 50-50 with you dictating when half are taken and her dictating the other half (ideally with 3 months notice on both sides). If she is not on holiday but you don't need her then you still have to pay her in full. When that happens with us I use the time to have the nanny get wardobe/toys sorted etc. I even had one nanny spend the whole day going through the kids' DVD's and throwing out the ones that 'stuck'...

no not 20 days plus bank hols. it's 5.6 weeks which may include bank holidays. no legal obligation to give bank holidays as time off.

ok thankyou - so I summarise that 20 days hols plus bank hols (as we are lucky to be in jobs where we will not be working) - hadn't thought about the 'can you find the bedroom floor in DD1's bedroom' option ! Just want to make sure it's fair and right - also another question - do you pay/contribute to a pension for them? We are about to set up a contract with holiday etc. so we pay her and our tax and NI liability (blimey how much?!!)- thanks again.

Plus a part time nannies working days may not fall on a bank holiday. So it is 5.6 weeks worth of a part-time nannies working days. It all amounts to the same thing but just incase anyone thought you could count the bank holidays which the nanny didn't work anyway, you can't. If that makes sense.

An employer can dictate when their employee takes holiday - so an employer can say that two weeks holiday must be taken on x date to y date. You can also write into the contract a clause that states that a certain time period needs to be given to request holiday. However, last minute holiday requests do happen occasionally (for example a relative dies) but you could be a very nice employer and pay that in full as compassionate leave.

Treat your nanny as you would expect a great employer to treat you.

No, I doubt any nanny employer contributes towards a personal pension.

In the contract I would suggest you state the Gross Annual Salary, as you would in any other job. You can include an hourly rate with that if you feel it is necessary.

As an employer, you DEDUCT your nannies Income Tax and NI on your nannies behalf. It isn't 'your money' it belongs to the nanny and is paid by you to the taxman. You then pay as the employer Employers NICs.
See HMRC: PAYE Intro for details.

nannynick thankyou - yes we understand the tax and NI bit - we pay on her behalf plus our own employer liabilities. Your comment ref 'Treat your nanny as you would expect a great employer to treat you' is spot on and something we are extremely concious of making sure we do. Thankyou again for your comments.

Good to know that someone understands Tax and NI
As your nanny is part time, make sure all money is agreed Gross... I'm anti Net wages as it is, but with a part-time employee you can never be sure what tax code that employee will use for your job.
Good luck drawing up the contract. Do keep asking for help if you need it.

If you are wondering what your likely Employers NICs are likely to be, www.listentotaxman.com now does Employers NICs calculations. I'd would not recommend that you fully trust figures from this site (or any others that do payroll calculations) as the nature of PAYE is such that when you come to do it, it may be a little different for your particular employee, but sites like ListenToTaxman are great for giving you a good idea of what you are likely to pay.