Nanny pay when you go over on her holiday allowance

[bippityboppityboo22]

Asking on behalf of friend -
If you go away on holiday for more weeks per year than your nanny has as her holiday allowance, do you pay her in full for those extra weeks? Or do you agree a reduced rate?

Of course you pay her in full

Yes generally. We gave four weeks holiday, two weeks to overlap with us and two weeks of her choice. If we went on holiday when she was 'working' she would do freezer meals for the kids, sort out wardrobes etc, clean toys etc.
It was never a full weeks work, but a couple of days just catching up with stuff

Of course you pay her in full

Oh and she was paid in full

Yes, you pay in full: assuming she has a standard contract of employment and not some kind of zero hours nanny contract where your friend can decide on a whim when she's paying her, she gets to be paid because she is available for work. You can't renegotiate to pay her a reduced rate when you're already employing her, not unless you want to end up in an employment tribunal. If your friend is horrified at paying her in full, I think her only option is to take fewer holidays herself.

You pay her in full. She still has all her outgoings regardless of the extra time off due to the family taking more holiday. Poor nanny.

I should also add that it has been talked about initially that she would travel with them but due to covid and her being unvaccinated, she isn’t going to this year. This holiday was booked by said friend after the nanny let them know she wouldn’t feel comfortable travelling this year, so they knew when booking this extra holiday that the nanny wouldn’t join.

I’m asking because she says she wants to offer the nanny half pay which I feel is just wrong.

Hmm, that is slightly different. Does the nanny contract say that she is obligated to travel with the family?

I may be wrong but I believe they’re paying her under the table, so no enforceable contract. May be wrong with that though.

I don’t think nanny is obligated to travel with them but they asked whether she would be open to travelling when interviewing her. She said in general yet but this year due to covid, no. My understanding is that the nanny doesn’t plan to travel at all this year, or at least until she has had her first and second vaccinations, so it’s not like she’s jetting off on her own holiday but doesn’t want to join my friend and her family on theirs, if that makes sense?

Ha ha ha ha.

No contract, written or not is unenforcable. The fact she has no contract gives her MORE rights, not less as it is a legal requirement to give an employment contract and if they are not paying her tax and NI they are liable, not her.

She should pay her in full. Tight cow.

I hate when parents do this. Just be decent. If you don't want to pay your nanny for 'extra holiday' then don't book extra holiday.

If you're lucky enough to have a job that gives you more than the standard allowance, why not pay it forward to your nanny?

Oh, let me guess, they aren't doing proper payroll or paying employer's tax and NI. Do they even have liability insurance?

They are in the wrong, and they are so fucked if someone reports them to HMRC. So I wouldn't piss my nanny off if I were them.

None of the above as far as I’m aware.

I completely agree and think it’s wrong to penalise the nanny because they’d like to take an extra two week trip to Spain but she seems to think it’s ok to offer half pay for those two weeks.

you're not the nanny are you @bippityboppityboo22 ?

I was a nanny and one family were from a European country. Their family would often fly over for long weekends or school holidays and I was given the time off fully paid.

I was live in too, so basically travelled home when off.

To thank them for my additional time off I’d do added things like airport pick ups and the weekly shop if it helped Mum out. I think it works both ways, they were a fantastic family to work for and I hope they’d say the same about me.

Nope, available for work means you get paid if the family is away.

If I travel with them I get a lot extra!

I'd dob them in in that case if I were you. With a clear conscience. They are fraudulently avoiding tax and exploiting their nanny, depriving her of her employment rights. And it's their own bloody fault for being cheapskates.

Ugh I HATE when people exploit their childcare in this way.

No we always had 2 weeks of our choice and 2 weeks of Nanny's choice.

Any extra time that we were away, we would discuss a few light chores that she never got around to doing with 3 kids underfoot, and as long as they were done the extra time was her own. Normally she would be itching to blitz the nursery or wardrobes, or sort out uniforms for next year etc.

So she might come in for a couple of full days in a week or a few hours each day.

pay in full.

our nanny comes to the house when we are away to feed small pets (hamsters) and keep an eye on the house.

we always had 2 weeks of our choice and 2 weeks of Nanny's choice.

We do the same. If we choose to take any further holiday on top of that, she retains full pay, as contracted.

It's a huge mistake to nickel and dime the person who cares for your children anyway. You need someone you can trust, and if you pick the right person and go the extra mile for them they will go the extra mile for you.

I don't understand how it works with a nanny's contract but I've always assumed that if a nanny is on holiday with a family then she's working still and is entitled to a full weeks pay?

If a family goes on holiday without the nanny can they force her to use her holiday allowance?

Yes they can. But in this instance the family have already used the nanny's holiday allowance.

@thenewduchessofhastings

I don't understand how it works with a nanny's contract but I've always assumed that if a nanny is on holiday with a family then she's working still and is entitled to a full weeks pay?

If a family goes on holiday without the nanny can they force her to use her holiday allowance?

1. yes she is, and in fact a nanny usually gets an enhanced rate when she travels with a family to reflect the fact that it's an inconvenience, not a holiday, for her, unless she's live-in and already on a fairly lavish rate.

2. typically a nanny and family split the right to choose when the nanny takes holiday, with the nanny getting to specify when 50% of her holiday allowance is taken and the employer getting to specify the other 50%, although other arrangements exist. So you could view that as the employer "forcing" her to take 50% of her holiday allowance. An employer taking more holiday than that still has to pay the nanny in full during that time.