Nanny not able to be furloughed

Maxmum

Hi, my daughter is a nanny to 2 families. She is also pregnant. She is currently self isolating. At the moment her employers are saying the furlough with 80% paid wages, does not apply to Nanny jobs, even though it does state all employees on PAYE. The 2 weeks, she has taken off as annual leave, on advice of the one family. The other family have just made her redundant. Obviously, she, s worried, she doesn't really want to go back to work, till after her baby's birth in the Autumn, but can't survive on sick pay. Why aren't nanny jobs included, it seems really misleading. 

calcotti

If needed look at eligibility for Universal Credit https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/benefits/universal-credit/. 

There are online calculators to help her assess entitlement  https://www.gov.uk/benefits-calculators

Be aware that claiming UC will end any Tax Credits she currently gets.

LilElvis

There's no reason why a nanny shouldn't be furloughed, but it is up to the employer and hers has decided not to. Not much else she can do except look to see what other benefits she might be entitled to.

sharpe106

Nanny jobs are included. Does she work for them privately or for a company?

But what they probably meant was that the  work had not dried up i.e. they still need a nanny so therefore they could not apply.  As they would have to pay somebody to do it so how can they claim the job has been lost. The furlough is not instead of SSP or any other benefit.

LilElvis

sharpe106 said:

Nanny jobs are included. Does she work for them privately or for a company?

But what they probably meant was that the  work had not dried up i.e. they still need a nanny so therefore they could not apply.  As they would have to pay somebody to do it so how can they claim the job has been lost. The furlough is not instead of SSP or any other benefit.

More than likely one parent is no longer working and therefore childcare is no longer required.

MDSinc

My friend works as a private nanny for two children. 

The employer, dad is self employed and works from home and mum is also now working from home due to the the government stay at home. Dad is now currently earning less and can no longer afford to pay the same hourly rate and has reduced her hours. She has asked if they can furlough her as the combination of minimum wage and reduced hours is less than the 80% if I were furloughed and they have still refused to furlough me. She can’t afford to take the pay cut to minimum wage but could cope on 80%. The family standpoint is they won’t get their work done if I’m furloughed and not in the family home. 

The also haven’t paid her this month and today is the last day of the month. She is PAYE 
Any advice on this please 

yksi

I can't figure out if there is actually you and also a friend and two situations or it's all just you. So assuming it is you:

Furloughing is at the discretion of the employer and is only if there is no work available and if they agree to offer it. If they offer it, then NO work at all can be done for them. If they REQUIRE someone to keep working, the choices are that you either accept the pay and hours cut, or you say no and walk away from the job. You don't have a right to any kind of 80% of anything. The only right is that the work done must be paid at minimum wage, and only if you agree to the pay cut.

Jeremy535897

I suspect that the reason her employers said they couldn't furlough her was because the guidance at the time only covered employers who were organisations, not individuals.
The guidance has now been revised today, and includes the following in the guidance to employers:

"Individuals

Individuals can furlough employees such as nannies provided they pay them through PAYE and they were on their payroll on, or before, 28 February 2020."

The guidance is at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-for-wage-costs-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme