Varying a nanny's employment contract - employment advice

[Gangle]

I am on maternity leave and going to be out of the country from the end of July for 3-4 months. We share a nanny with another family and after lengthy discussions we've agreed to continue to pay the nanny a "retainer fee" of £275 net per month whilst we are out of the country with a view to using her full time when returning to the UK in December/Jan. The other family will pay an increased amount to reflect that they are using her exclusively. I know I need to a formal variation of her employment contract stating the reduced salary etc but then wondered if in fact we should be treating this as a redundancy as we are in fact moving out of the country, albeit temporarily, and so there is no job for her although we do intend to re-employ her when we return. Not sure if it's a redundancy though if we are continuing to pay her a retainer fee. Can anyone advise? Thanks.

Do you employ her? Or do you pay her a fixed fee and she sorts out tax and national insurance?

We employ her, as do the other family, and split the tax code.

bump

I wonder why your nanny is agreeing to a reduced salary on this basis for 3-4 months, just to suit you?

Not sure. Was fully expecting her to say no and for her and the other family to look for another family to share with. She will only work 3 days for the other family and look for other employment for the other 2 days. Think she is happy to work fewer days for a few months.

Can you not write an addendum to the contract, as a temporary measure for changed circumstances to which all parties are freely and willingly in agreement? And then resume your normal contract on your return to the UK?