Why in 2016 are parents still wanting to pay nannies in cash

Nannies absolutely do have the right to be treated as legitimate employees, and they should be.

However for anyone who is employing a nanny for the first time, it comes as a huge shock to discover just how much you have to pay for said nanny. Not just their salary, but also the tax and NI.

It's entirely understandable that many people want to pay their nannies either a net salary, or cash.

That's not to say it's right, obviously. But to state But like many hundreds of thousands of people you stay at home if you can't afford to pay out for childcare this is a little/deliberately naive.

Childcare is a huge cost to working parents. And it's not just the cost of it, but it's also the opportunity cost of childcare. When I had DC2, it actually cost me more to go to work than to stay at home. But that was the cost to me of preserving my career. So it was worth it for me. (As well as, naturally, making sure that I was paying for top quality care for my children. And, for the record, before anyone starts, I always paid their tax and NI up front and totally legitimately)

Are there any common factor about such parents, such as very high earners (over £150,000 say) or is it just low earners (say under £20,000) or does it really not seem to differ at all between, hate to say this, social class.

Do they simply not understand about taxation in the UK or are they deliberately trying to avoid it?

Has this got worse in the past year, as more has been publicised about small employers needing to give their employee a pension?

Do you think this situation will change when the new childcare system starts and Government contributes up to 20% of childcare cost?

Sorry for all the questions. I can see that they don't want to pay employers NI, they don't want to pay employers pension contribution, they don't want to pay payroll admin costs, they don't want to be real employers... but shouldn't nannies have the right to be a real employee?

What's wrong with paying cash?

Whoops!

Because doing it legitimately is hugely expensive and you're paying tax out of your own taxed income.

Because doing it legit

I've had multiple nannies stipulate that they don't want to be registered for tax and to be paid in cash too. It cuts both ways.
It's cripplingly expensive to have a FT nanny. I can completely understand why people would be tempted to avoid the tax man. Legally the penalties fall on the employer rather than the employee so I would not be brave enough to risk it.

It's not illegal to pay in cash unless you are avoiding tax and NI - is this what the families are suggesting?