Our nanny is planning a family...

[Cakehead]

Our nanny has mentioned several times that she'd like to be pregnant by the time her job with our family finishes next year.

She's terrific and has been with us for four years. Over the next year, we're keeping her on at full pay, even though our youngest will be at nursery three hours a week and she'll be left without any children for fifteen hours a week. But we really like her and appreciate how much the boys like her too. But when the littlest starts school we'd naturally expected to let her go.

But where do we stand in terms of maternity leave? In theory, she'd have no job to come back to, as we won't need her come September 2011. But if she were to be pregnant for the last few months she was with us, are we still required to pay her maternity leave?

You can claim it all back from the Government plus a bit extra. I'm sure someone will be able to link you to the details. My boss used Nannytax and they sorted it all for her.

I think that if she becomes pregnant before you make her redundant, then she will still be able to get SMP and you could make her redundant whilst on maternity leave.
As a small employer you get 104% of SMP paid back, you can get it in advance via the Statutory funding scheme.
So I'd say it isn't that much of an issue as you wouldn't be needing to replace her whilst she was on maternity leave.

Ahh, that's great. I thought something like that happened but hadn't quite got to the bottom of it. Thanks for the advice.

Will you need to think about redundancy too?

I have no idea - but I'm sure others will.

great you love your nanny, tho tbh you need to pay her for those 3 hours a day as she is on call if your dc falls over/ill/sick at nursery - or are you going to come home from work?

you said you would naturally let her go when all are at school next year - have you thought keeping her on and bringing her own child (if she does fall preg within next few months) to do school runs and holidays and maybe a bit of washing/ironing etc

yes required to pay ml and get can claim think5% of goverment

Another point - do you realise that if you make her redundant she is entitled to redundancy pay as she has been with you for over 2 years.

She would be entitled to a weeks wages for every year that she has worked with you. This is capped at £380 per week and is tax free. You would have to fund this payment as you cannot claim it back from the government.