Nanny pay question

[theproudfather]

Hi! my wife and i are looking at hiring a nanny for our daughter but will not need child care through the school holidays.

Being a total noob to all this i was wondering if i need to still pay a nanny for weeks where they are not required (like a retainer i suppose) or can i employ someone and only pay them for weeks that they work?

Does this also apply to childminders as this is also an option we are looking at?

Thanks for any help provided.

it depends what you agree on with your childcarer...

I know a few nannies who work for people who only require term time care and do get paid all the time....
some have to take all their holiday during school hols, others can choose their 2 weeks choice anytime.
I think childminders would be more happy to have holidays off and not be paid, as they can much more easily fill the spaces (or just enjoy the time with their children)

Equally you may find a nanny with her own school age child who would LOVE to only work term time and get school hols with her own child.

It will depend on the nanny, some may agree to not being paid for a certain number of weeks a year. Though when it comes to payroll, you may want to split payments over 12 months (if that is how you get paid). So you could say that you will pay £20,000 Gross per year, which is to cover 36 working weeks, 5 weeks holiday, plus all Bank Holidays off (check that at least 3 Bank Holidays do fall on the nannies usual working day).
As an employer you can request that your employee takes a lot of their annual leave during a period you specify - so you could specify that they take annual leave in the school holidays.

I don't feel you are able to employ someone and only pay them for weeks that they work. You would at the minimum need to pay additional for their holiday leave.

Childminders in my view may agree a Term Time Only contract. However not all childminders will do so... some may do so on condition that a retainer (can be 50%) is paid during the periods you don't need childcare to keep your place.

If you only have one child, a Childminder in my view is bound to be cheaper than a nanny - even if that Childminder charges a retainer fee. This is due to childminders being able to care for a variety of children from more than one family, whereas a nanny works solely for you.