Hiring a part-time after school nanny

shoe_dog

Currently looking for an after school nanny for when our son starts school in September. The nanny we're considering (who we found through childcare.co.uk) is a UK national part-time student and we'll likely offer them 25 hours a week - 3 hours after school Mon–Fri plus perhaps an additional 2 hours each weekday cleaning. They will not live in with us.

Is the nanny allowed to operate on a self-employed basis or do we need to officially employ them and set up a payroll?

Caz3121

there is a comparison here https://www.nannytax.co.uk/self-employment
It doesn't look like they will fit the criteria for being self-employed

Brie

Lots of people employ others to do things on the basis that the nanny (in your case) is responsible for all her own NI and tax as self employed.

I must admit that I'm a bit boggled by the need to have someone doing cleaning 15 hours a week!  Most people I know who have cleaners manage with maybe 2 hours, perhaps twice a month.  

Caz3121

HMRC have a checklist you can work through.
The main things around you setting the hours (not the nanny being able to choose when they want to work) and, I assume, not accepting a replacement being sent would make them Employed for tax purposes
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

Vectis

You should be able to claim for between 15 and 30 hours of free childcare per week from 2024.

And, as we're on a money saving website, do you really need 2 hours of cleaning every day of the working week? I'd love to know what you're expecting them to clean every day!

Undervalued

Vectis said:

You should be able to claim for between 15 and 30 hours of free childcare per week from 2024.

And, as we're on a money saving website, do you really need 2 hours of cleaning every day of the working week? I'd love to know what you're expecting them to clean every day!

May well include dishwashing, clearing the kitchen after breakfast, laundry, bed making etc. Some people like their house to look as immaculate as you would expect in a five star hotel!

Undervalued

Caz3121 said:

HMRC have a checklist you can work through.
The main things around you setting the hours (not the nanny being able to choose when they want to work) and, I assume, not accepting a replacement being sent would make them Employed for tax purposes
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

Which most accountants will tell you is heavily skewed towards giving the answer of "employee"!

It is complex and there are many factors which can tilt the balance either way.  

shoe_dog

Brie said:

I must admit that I'm a bit boggled by the need to have someone doing cleaning 15 hours a week!  Most people I know who have cleaners manage with maybe 2 hours, perhaps twice a month.  

2 hours twice a month?!! You must know some incredibly time-rich people. We currently have a cleaner every week for 2 hours on a Monday (laundry and light clean), 2 hours on a Wednesday (laundry and light clean) and 5 hours on a Friday (full clean) and we still struggle.

For context we're both full time professional parents living in London with 2 very young boys (1yo and 4yo) with next to no spare time in the evenings and weekends due to, well, having 2 very young boys.

shoe_dog

Vectis said:

And, as we're on a money saving website, do you really need 2 hours of cleaning every day of the working week? I'd love to know what you're expecting them to clean every day!

To be honest it's more about offering enough hours to make the proposition attractive enough to secure somebody. Good after school nannies are like hens teeth, finding one is next to impossible and i've heard stories of parents having to offer 7hours+ a day keeping them busy with cleaning, cooking, clothes shopping, meal planning etc. just to secure one. 

We were lucky enough to find a good candidate but she requires at least 20 hours a week so we're needing to build things around that. We currently have a cleaner in 3 days a week helping with cleaning and laundry so thought we'd pass those tasks over to the nanny thus bumping up the amount of hours we can offer.

It's not cheap but with no family close by and with both us parents working full time it's the only option.

r6mile

I sympathise - our eldest started school in Reception, and of our group of friends only one has managed to get a reliable after-school nanny. They are in very high demand. She does 2.30pm-6.30pm every day which includes preparing snacks (for after school), plus also dinner. She did look at getting her to do some cleaning but I guess decided against it, as not all nannies will want to do that. 

You will have to employ her I'm afraid, and pay pension contributions etc. But there are companies that will sort it all out for you - when we had a nanny we used PAYE for Nannies which was around £250 a year. Well worth it as they basically will sort everything out including the payslips - all you have to do is actually pay the nanny.

One thing I would suggest is agreeing a gross wage with her, rather than net. Nannying is probably one of the only jobs where people still talk in "net" but this can cause issues with working out payroll every month etc, so much easier to agree a gross wage.

If you qualify for Tax Free Childcare - then I would highly recommend asking your nanny to register with Ofsted as that's the only way you will be able to use TFC. But it can save you £500 per quarter (per child) so well worth it.