Tax/NI, contract - self employed babysitter?

Hi,

I am a private tutor and I (mostly) work in my clients' homes at a set day and time. I also choose what to do with them (unlikely to take them out though :) I am self-employed and never had any problem with my tax assessment. I invoice people at the end of each month, but this is my choice, it all depends on your contract. I would not let a tutee down by changing their days without prior agreement and I try to be mindful when going on holiday. I had to cancel due to sickness but that can happen in employment to.

She can definitely be self-employed, the rest is all down to communication. You already have a good working relationship with her so as long as she invoices you I would just trust that she will not let you down if she was reliable before. I suppose she wants her business thrive and be recommended.

Those are completely different things though, as a builder quotes for a job, does it, then moves on to the next customer. A Pilates teacher runs a series of classes for several people at a time. There is no way that it could look like you were employing that person.

Technically as far as HMRC are concerned, if you work set hours in a set place and the "employer" calls the shots, then you are an employee. In order to prove self employment, you need to prove certain things.

As long as she bills you for random hours each month (ie not 20 every single month) and you get an invoice each time, and she also works for other people, then you should be ok.

Hmm, my clients pay me ahead for some services. So they might fur a package for example. It doesn't mean that their employee though.

In the case on the OP it's even less clear because the babysitter is doing a lot of other things too, with other people rather than working fur only person doing one thing iyswim.

my point was though, that if you pay your baby sitter in advance for a set number of hours, then I think it leads to employment not self employment as you are contracting her to do something in advance. If she bills you in arrears for random hours worked, then it looks better for self employment.

A child minder is different as they charge per hour per child and are running a self employed business.

A person who is doing several jobs, one of which is looking after a child, is not running a childminding business. Childminders are paid for your child's holidays and sickness whereas a self employed babysitter wouldn't be.

Well I have a letter to show that I'm registered as self employed. (Maybe I should have said a letter rather than a certificate).

OP I would still call HMRC yourself to confirm.

Here is the HMRC guidance as to whether someone is self employed or not.
For me you are paying an hourly rate not a fixed price, she can not regularly substitute someone else to do the job and you are providing the environment ( your house) so she is employed.

I don't think in advance is a good idea as that shows she's expecting to work a set number of hours? Most self employed bill afterwards for hours worked.

Nope I do t have any certificate st all either.
What I would ask fur is some sort of either invoice and/or receipt. Then you are covered in the sense that you have laid fur a service therefore she has to be self employed.
Whether she us registered or not, is declaring all of her income isn't your responsibility.

I too have neve heard of a self employment certificate nanny & both i & dh were s/e for over 10 years. Maybe it's the letter/email you get when you first register as self employed & get given a UTR?

I don't have a self-employment certificate - what is one of those? I have a UTR and a Class2 Exemption certificate but nothing which states I am self employed when doing particular work.

I would use the Employment Status Indicator to see what that says as that will give a reference number and printout which you can keep on file.

If they are self employed do get them to give an invoice and terms of business. Do let them decide how much they charge.

Just call HMRC - I don;t think they would have a problem with your babysitter being self employed in these circumstances. They are pretty helpful usually, just call them up and ask.

You then just need to take a copy of her self-employment certificate.

The fact she is doing an activity at the same at the same place has nothing to do with being self employed.
I am self employed, work always from the same place (which isn't what your Babysitter is doing) and have set hours. Some clients will come at the same time, some will decide to change but really I could just say 'You will have the slot from 3.00pm till 5.00pm every mionday' it wouldn't;t change a thing.
What changes is that you have a business if you are self employed. That means you can change your hours as you suit but logic says you will change them to also work for your client. You can say that you will stop tomorrow (unless contract says No) whereas you would have to give some advance notice to an employers. You do as you choose whereas an employee will do as her boos says.

There are some advantages and disadvantages to employ her in this situation but I'm not sure I would be keen on doing all the paperwork when I can leave all the admin stuff to her.

Music/swimming teachers do set their own hours, they maybe regular, but the set the times in the first place.
I am self-employed and do the same job as my employees, however, I decide my business hours, my employees work the hours I ask them to.

Good point, sick point may not apply due to the salary level.

The majority of those responsibilities (except holiday pay which would be minimal) don't apply if earning under the lower earnings limitbwhich is £112 per week

As you are wanting them on a regular basis I would make them an employee. You don't really want them to call you half an hour before pickup time to say they are doing cleaning elsewhere and won't make it... you want certainty, well as much as is possible.

If you get in as their first employer, all their personal tax allowance is likely to be allocated to your job.

Employment comes first, before self employment in terms of taxes, so when she completes a tax return she fills in the employment page for what you pay her and then she pays tax based on what personal tax allowance remains.

As you would be paying quite low, chances are it will be below the NI threshold (112 per week) so the reporting would be quite easy. You could try doing it yourself, or pay a payroll company to do it for you (they can also assist with producing a contract and payslips).

As they are your employee, you would need to give paid holiday (5.6 weeks is statutory minimum) but you would base it on total working hours per year in a situation of them doing more/less hours in school holidays.

Agree a gross salary, then if she were to get any other employment it would not make a difference to your cost.

Sick pay me be the main issue, but that only starts on 4th day of illness. You may want to look up how much that might cost you in the worse case situation of them being off for several weeks.

Yes, dh is a self employed music teacher alongside being an employed teacher in a school. He provides a service at an agreed rate at an agreed time/place for a number of students. He has insurance & it's definitely self employed.