ok, be honest, mums who employ nannies- do you...

What is her weekly wage? If it's say £120 per week you aren't going to pay very much tax anyway, and it isn't really worth being a criminal.

If you are paying her £500 per week, then you might find the taxes a whole lot more painful...

Lots of people probably don't but I'm not one of them. For one thing, if you get caught the fines (on the employer) are large. Also, if your nanny cannot show pay slips, or her pay slips reflect a lower rate of pay, this will affect her ability to get credit, a mortgage etc and may also have a bearing on what benefits she is entitled to if she is ill or pregnant.

Most importantly of all, from a moral point of view, I couldn't reconcile trusting my children, who after all are the most precious thing in my life, to someone and expecting them to take good care of them while on the other hand I am defrauding the tax man and denying them benefits!

However, if you say that this girl is on a gap year and going to be working as an aupair, does that mean she will be living with you? Also, if you are paying her as an aupair, this is generally only about 60 pounds per week so she will fall below the threshold for paying tax anyway. I think you can pay up to about 90 pounds pw without incurring tax - someone with the exact figure will be along in a minute!

In general I think if you need to pay tax for someone, then do it.

Hi I worked as a Nanny years back prior to children and quite a few families...okay all but one would pay at least two thirds legitimate and then would top the rest up in cash on the friday.....as often I would have done extra hours babysitting etc so as long as you sit down and set exact hours for paying legitimate and then top up with babysitting pay? I would say that to cover yourself you should bother with the tax palava a family I know didn't and it ended badly. Good luck!