Nanny kitty

and i shall be all happy and grinny coz im in bed as well

had noticed you hadnt been around much in this section - what is S&B? i know what sb is

'Not quite sure where £5 a week came into it!'

From the whole 'big spend'/'small spend' thing.

My point is, big spends receipts are logged, fair enough. Asking your nanny to write down EVERY penny e.g. 50p for a snack, £1.50 for playgroup etc. is indicative of a lack of trust imo. I think 'small spends' probably add up to £5 a week on average.

And before you ask, the 'writing down every penny' thing came from leo's question about her friend, not your original OP.

to novice bless you thank you- im fairly ok thanks, still have a few wobbly days here and there but generally im ok - have to be as no point crying all the time, doesnt solve anything :(

sure you must know this, but met a lovely man, been together a while now and we live together - hes lovely and very understanding and i say he gave me my smile back xx

To me stealing from someone is not compatible with loving and looking after them. It's also not compatible with 'having the same values' as me, because I don't steal! For me, the couples who only got eliminated in round three would have been voted out straight away. In the same way, a nanny I didn't trust with £5 a week of kitty money wouldn't be someone I'd employ to care for my DC.

Well done for tackling and sounds like nanny knew what she had done and hopefully reliesed it's something she can't do

Maybe buy her some diet coke etc - I drink a lot of it and would buy it within the weekly shopping / but then again I would mention that at the beginning of the job - I don't drink tons - maybe a can for lunch etc

I think you should ask the playgroup lady, Outraged, see what she says :o

I'm sure there's a cap on petty cash with no receipts as far as HMRC is concerned.

Can't get a receipt for small stuff - not can - grrrrr

Some weeks I used to spend £5/7 in parking as £1.70 for 2hrs and 2 swim classes after each would be over an hour with getting dressed etc

In the summer with 3dc ice creams weekly could be £3/5 - tho tbh I would normally choose mini milk or mr men - kids don't need these super super lollies with sweets etc at bottom which cost £2/3 each !!!!

I normally have a credit card for work - I will use it for everything I can - petrol - lunch - school shoes - swimming - entrance to places shopping etc

Also handy if employers want dry cleaning /car tyres etc done

Obv I keep all receipts (tho tbh most employers rarely look at them - they trust me) and when statement comes in employers can see where money has gone

Any expenses like drinks or snacks entrance fees etc during the working day will be paid by employer

I also have a small cash kitty which I just ask to be topped up every now and again - as leeds said you can get a receipt for everything - £1.50 toddlers - 50p ice cream

And no I don't write down everything for the cash kitty as again comes to trust

Yes I go shopping for my stuff ESP if working long hours but I would never put on employers card and then reimburse - that makes complications tbh

Maybe nanny suddenly got AF and rushed out to buy some pads but she should have put the £2/3 in kitty herself

'But those are things for the children Outraged.

I know

'And everywhere will give you a receipt if you ask'

@ asking the old lady who takes the money at playgroup for a receipt! Or the vending machine....

As a nanny-I've seen a few ways of handling the way the kitty is given/used. Currently I do similar to a lot of nannies, I note down each day what I spend, in the margin of the nanny diary, then do a weekly total in the weekend bit. At some point each week there will be some money laid on the nanny diary, I always note how much. Then on each Friday leave a note 'nanny owed £12' or '£7 remains', something like that.

As to the op- as others have said, are you sure it is actually coming out of the kitty? I'll often grab my own things, my lunch or bread or something I can't get afterword. It's all on the same receipt but I do cross out my stuff and write a new total on.

I keep a tally in the diary mainly for me, boss would be happy with a weekly total but I lose track of what I spend. 50p here for parking, a bus fare on my oyster, a couple of local shops that don't give receipts. It all adds up, and as I just put the float in my own money for ease, I find I'm paying for things that should be from the kitty.

But then I've never ever bought anything for myself from the float, and my boss knows that. If out, I'll buy my own lunch. Don't drink tea or coffee! Every penny of the kitty goes on the Kids or household stuff.

50p tax, not round my way, more like £2.50 toddler group tax.

Unless you have a child who is an age where they needed a sanitary pad, then that expense is not acceptable.

Personally I have never kept receipts for expenses as many things simply do not have one. Shopping trips would have a receipt if my boss wanted it, as would some larger outings.

What ever system you have, your system has found that trust is being abused. Maybe it is a one off, or maybe it has been going on a while. Many nannies I feel are trustworthy and I suspect some overspend kitty money using their own money to supplement it, and other weeks/months may underspend and thus it evens out over time.

What to do... Mention it. Your system requires receipts so nanny must be aware that you will check from time to time, so you can ask directly why that purchase has been put through. Then you can remind them that expenses are fine but they must be expenses incurred through their job, not personal things.

You need to be really careful, novice. I get receipts for everything, because I'm paranoid about being swooped on by HMRC.

But those are things for the children Outraged. Not snacks, treats, newspapers, sanitary protection (!) for the nanny herself.

My employer doesn't buy me Starbucks, only crappy machine coffee. If a nanny buys a Starbucks, she should pay for it out of her own money, not the kitty.

And everywhere will give you a receipt if you ask.

'A few bits here and there easily add up to over £50 in a week which I consider a large amount.'

A few is like 3,4,5 things. To come to £50, that's £10 each, which is a 'big spend'.

A few things for us would be a maximum of £10 a week, probably less(e.g. playgroup £1.50, snack 45p, bus fare £1.20, another snack 60p and a packet of wipes £1). Nowhere near £50 a week on 'a few bits'!

Well I don't think you should stop a receipts system that everyone else in any job has to do... Because it shows a lack of trust!

I'll just tell the accounts department at my work that they're insulting me shall I?

I'm afraid that alot of people do a bit of 'creative accounting' unless monitored. It's a shame but that's the way it is which is why every other industry has strict accounting methods. It doesn't reflect on whether the employee is good at their job or not, it's to have completely transparent dealings which protect employee and employer.

(I say this as someone who has been really lax in their accounting and has realised that the nanny is indeed skimming a bit off here and there. However because I didn't stick to a system of accounting, so can't do anything about it. I have to change the system to make it less tempting)

the playgroup biscuit tax. I'd forgotten all about those little 50p's.

'where do you draw the line on large vs minor spends though?'

Generally, a big spend has a receipt e.g. school shoes, shop in Tesco, theatre tickets, gym classes etc. Small spends generally don't e.g. playgroup fee, drink from a vending machine, snack from a corner shop, couple of bananas from the greengrocer etc.

Nannies are employees, like any other employee. I have to provide a receipt for every item I buy if I want my employer to pay for it. It's a tax issue, not a trust issue.

If your nanny is regularly buying herself 'treats' with your money over and above what you pay her, then those are in effect benefits in kind aren't they?

All the small things add up though don't they. I get given a few hundred pound kitty every few weeks (I buy everything for house hold and children) and go through it fast. A few bits here and there easily add up to over £50 in a week which I consider a large amount.

where do you draw the line on large vs minor spends though? like nannyme1 says, employers are obliged to fill in HMRC declarations on expenditure which are auditable. If there isn't reasonable record keeping, not just on "big spends" (what is a big spend anyway?) then it's the employer who's at risk of getting a rap on the knuckles / fine / extra tax. However much I trust my nanny (with my children, my house, my car, my keys etc), HMRC don't trust me an inch. I get receipts for cinema tickets / entry fees / odd bits of shopping just as much as for birthday presents or dry cleaning collected & don't see why that's an indication I don't trust her.