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Original poster

Not declaring a nanny and taking a "non qualified" nanny - thoughts ?

57 replies

monaco · 25/01/2008 11:45

Hello all

so far, I thought that the only way to have a nanny was to hire a qualified one for whom you pay taxes. Yesterday, I talked to a mother who told me that often families actually often go for a nice student who gets on great with kids and they pay them cash so that they don't pay taxes.

My questions to anyone here is : what are the legal risks of doing that and has anyone have similar experience with a non qualified nanny and what did they think of it ?

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WanderingTrolley · 25/01/2008 12:10

Ditch all ideas about net pay now - it's confusing and misleading for nannies and employers. Work out a gross rate and pay her that. It gives you a more realistic idea of what it will cost you.

If you pay her £7 net and she has another job 3 days a week you may end up paying a lot more in tax than you need to.

When do you go back to work?

WanderingTrolley · 25/01/2008 12:07

I think you have to register as an employer regardless of how much you're paying.

Unqualified is not synonymous with paying cash in hand.

I was an unqualified nanny and my taxes were paid. If you are going to claim childcare vouchers, your nanny will need to be registered, which pretty much equals qualified, CRB checked and first aid trained.

If you pay your nanny cash and get caught, you'll be liable for all the tax etc you haven't paid, plus you'll be heavily fined.

Original poster
monaco · 25/01/2008 12:02

Thanks for your answer Bink. Is that net or gross salary ?
I will probably pay more than that as being in SW London, the going rate I think is minimum £7 an hour (net) and 2 days would be 20h.
The solution would be to use her only one day then !Or, declare one day but not the other.
Is anyone aware of people doing that and what are the risks/legal liability if you don't declare ?

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Bink · 25/01/2008 12:01

By the way, qualification is not relevant as regards liability to tax or not - your liability as an employer is just based on whether the person is your employee + earns over the threshold.

Bink · 25/01/2008 11:56

From the bestbear (childcare info) website:

Employees start to attract liability for national insurance contributions when they earn more than £79 per week, although you won?t have to make any contributions until they earn over £97 per week (these figues may change after April 2007) If you are paying your nanny more than this you are legally required to: register with the Inland Revenue as an employer and operate a PAYE (Pay As You Earn) scheme, keep a payroll, and produce yearly accounts of all payments.

So, how much are you intending to pay?

Original poster
monaco · 25/01/2008 11:52

Thanks for that. Do you know what is the NI trheshold ?

I forgot to say that I'm looking for a nanny for 2 days but one of the day, I would be working from home so able to "supervise". My daughter would be 8 months old when we start.

Any concern ?

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elliott · 25/01/2008 11:48

I think if you only need a few hours (so pay is below NI threshold) it is actually ok just to pay them without having to register everything. Its not that dissimilar to paying a babysitter.