Tips to employ or work as a Nanny

Based on Debbie speaking to thousands of Nanny Employers and Nannies for nearly 40 years the following advice is useful to discuss in an interview and follow throughout the year (s).

What is a Nanny:

A Nanny works in their Employer's home caring sole charge for their Employers' Baby and/or under-schoolage Child.
Parents pay more to employ a Nanny because they do not want their Child out of their home all day in a Day Nursery or Registered Childminder group care setting.
Most Nannies choose Childcare as their 1st choice career and do a minimum 1-year Childcare Qualification.
A Nanny can be a cost-effective and convenient Parent choice if they care for more than one Child or older sibling (s) to be taken and collected from school and cared for during school holidays and Parents can ask to do Childcare related housekeeping duties.
A Nanny is great family support and Childcare continues as usual if a Child is sick.
A Nanny is NOT a mother's help, traditionally they are a school leaver with no Childcare Qualification or Work Experience who cares for the Children jointly with a Parent. Often they lack confidence and initiative so all day a Parent will have to tell them what to do.

Most Nannies seek:

A minimum 1-year contract and as in any other career with a mortgage or rent to pay job security so prefer to work for a family for 2 - 3 years.
A set 5 - 12 hour day between the hours of 7 am - 7 pm.

If you seek a permanent Nanny:

Please register with us at least 8 weeks before the start month to allow time for:

Us to advertise your job vacancy to Childcarers for 2 weeks, interview, reference check and prepare their CV Reports.
A 1st 40 - 60 minute Face to Face interview in the family home without curious Child (ren) present so both can concentrate properly on checking contract points that need to be discussed clearly with a degree of flexibility to ascertain you have similar views.
2nd face-to-face interview with the Children is essential for about 2- 3 hours during the day so adults can in a more relaxed way get to know each other and Parents have a better opportunity to see how a Childcarer communicates and plays with their Child (ren) perhaps by doing a craft activity and the Child (ren) showing their bedroom, toys, garden, pet, and play areas.
If you offer your job and they accept subject to reference checks you will need to email a Provisional Job Offer statement of the agreed days, hours, terms, and Gross rate before they can give notice to their current Employer which is usually 4-weeks notice.
Agree on a 4 - 6 week probationary, this is to check that all parties are happy. Pay the Nanny weekly with a week's notice agreement and have an end-of-week discussion allowing for different opinions without either taking offense with the aim to resolve minor points.

Duties of a Childcare Qualified and/or Experienced Nanny:

Parents can ask for and expect to a reasonable standard all the following for a new Nanny to:

Plan daily and weekly varied fun, age-appropriate, and one-to-one play, creative, and learning activities for the Child (ren) that include practicing ABC/ spelling, numbers, reading, and writing to prepare for school.
Prepare, cook, and introduce age-appropriate healthy but simple meals and snacks.
Nanny is to wash up and put awat only items they have used in their work hours.
Child-related housekeeping duties to include:

Ironing Children's clothes and school uniforms.
Daily clean and vacuum play and kitchen areas as the need arises.
Clean as the need arise baby equipment, toys, highchair, bottle sterilizer, mud on pushchair, and shoes.
Weekly Children's bedroom tidy, bed sheet change, dust, and vacuum.
Bath a Child then tidies up the bathroom.
With Children do an end-of-day toy and tidy up then sit to enjoy a quiet time coloring or reading a story so the Child (ren) are calm when Parents arrive home.

A new Nanny must follow the Parent chosen local outings to a park, playgroup, library, music group, or swimming. By the probationary end, most Parents give permission for an every other day 2/3 hour Nanny meet up if at a suitable Child-friendly place with a game or craft activity.

A large diary is useful for both the Employer and Nanny to write weekly notes to keep each other informed.

This can include appointments, outings a Parent has agreed to, diet changes, and if a Child is unwell or on regular medication permission the dosage to give a Child. Both can suggest other new local outings or food recipes and a Parent the odd to be done asap Child-related housekeeping duty. Weekly Nanny can staple receipts from the cash kitty allowance used to buy craft activity items, occasional treats, an emergency, and local low-cost outings. Inside a door display all year a 1-page sheet of your mobile number (s), doctor, family, and friend emergency telephone number.

By UK law the Employer (Parent) must factor in varied other costs:

This section is why the final Employer's Gross per hour rate budget is so important so that Parents factor in over and above extra costs.

Because HMRevenue & Customs (HMRC) deems a Parent the Employer and the Nanny their Employee. This means:

The Employer must HMRC register the Nanny for PAYE (Pay As You Earn) and National Insurance Tax deductions.
That neither can suggest that only part of their earnings are PAYE declared.
Because a Nanny does not have hundreds of adhock customers throughout the year they cannot ask or be asked to be self-employed.

It is a condition of registration with us that a potential Nanny Employer contact either HMRC or a specialist Nanny PAYE Payroll company to have confirmed points we outline and advice related to their individual circumstance such as one below :

www.nannytax.co.uk or call 020 3137 4401

www.nannypaye.co.uk or call 0845 660044

www.nannywageltd.co.uk or call 020 8642 5470

All the above will advise the Employer will need to allow for:

Employer National Insurance (ENI) and Employer Liability Insurance.
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) - first, 3 days in a row sick are 100% unpaid (self - certification) and the Employer is under no legal obligation to pay although the Nanny can ask to be paid if they use if available to annual leave. After 4th day of sickness if with a doctor's certificate SSP is about £100 per week and refunded by HMRC government.
Statutory Maternity Leave (SMP) for up to 52 weeks. The Employer claims back from HMRC and Nanny has the right to return to work but only on the previously signed contract terms. Most Nannies ask if can agree to return on a lower gross per hour rate bringing their own Child which an Employer is under no legal obligation to answer in that conversation or agree to do a new contract.
Statutory Holiday Entitlement - on days an Employer does not need a Nanny they should be paid and not expected to transfer the hours.
Work Place Pension scheme - Nanny pays (5%) and Employer (3%).
Fuel/petrol and car wear allowance is paid if the Nanny is asked to use their own car for work.

Both the Nanny Employer and Childcarer need to protect themselves by:

Employers must accept that they must do the Nannies PAYE.
Both risk if deviate from UK law at a later date being months involved in a stressful HMRC inquiry.
That they may be fined with interest on top and unpaid back taxes payable to HMRC.
Childcarers if a Parent in 1st interview does not bring up the Childcarer must be brave and ask in a polite, calm, and matter-of-fact way as to how the Parent will pay their PAYE Tax. Honest Childcarers will insist upon this for their own peace of mind to have acess to statutory government entitlement rights. The Childcarer must provide a new Employer with their P45 and Personal Tax allowance code, most are on a standard/ basic HMRC PAYE tax code 1257L and documents/Visas related to eligibility checks to work in the UK.

Understandably Parents (Employers) find the Nanny's PAYE deductions a complex and daunting task.

So the wisest and easiest solution for a monthly fee is to delegate to a Nanny Payroll company like the above who:

Help PAYE form register their Employee (Nanny) and set up an HMRC PAYE scheme.
Do the monthly payslip figures on the Employers behalf and deduct Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Tax and Employee National Insurance to provide the Nanny with the amount, date, and where Parents must on time to avoid a fine and have paid their HMRC PAYE Tax.
Provide the Contract of Employment that is signed by both before and within 2 months of starting.
As varied and individual circumstances change or scenarios arise provide up-to-date and correct advice based on UK law for example on the steps to be done when employing a Nanny with a 2nd job (Employer) on different days in relation to splitting pro-rata the Tax Allowance OR in a Nanny Share where two families team up that ideally know each other on the same day (s) paying £10 per hour gross so Nanny earns £20 per hour Gross OR a Temporary Nanny OR if paying a Nanny less than £113 per week OR whether a Parent is eligible for benefits under the Ofsted Voluntary Register, Universal Credit, 30 hours of tax-free Childcare or their own Employer Salary Sacrifice Scheme.

Little Masters and Misses are not accountants and are not qualified to give Childcarers or Parents accurate or in-depth gross-to-net salary or final cost advice or are liable or responsible for any discussion, contract, or gross salary misunderstanding or agreement between an Employee (Nanny) or Employer (Parent).