All employers of nannies - do you now or will you pay your nanny based on gross amount instead of fixing a net amount as it appears

Answer to SycamoretreeisVile - nannytax do the calculations for you if you give them the gross figure - they will tell you the net amount that you need to pay. Even if it varies from month to month (e.g. because of overtime) they will still calculate the figures for you if you notify them of the variations. Hope that answers your question.

I'm on my second nanny and pay her gross and paid the first nanny gross too. In both cases I used gumtree/nannyjob to find them rather than using agencies and I simply made the offer as a gross figure and giving them the current 'net' equivalent figure - conversion tables are available of some of the nanny websites to provide you with gross and net figures for various salary levels to help with this. I didn't meet resistance from either nanny although another nanny I interviewed insisted she wanted to be paid in net and weekly not monthly. However, I had plenty to choose from who were more accommodating so I think in the current economic climate you are in the driving seat and can specify a gross salary. I would only accommodate a nanny's wishes for a net salary if she was so fab, streets ahead of all the others prepared to take a gross salary, and the only decent, viable option available at the time. I think if you want 'supernanny' with many years experience they may be more likely to demand and expect to get a net salary agreement, but a newer nanny or perhaps an ex-nursery nurse switching to a nanny job may be very happy with a gross salary agreement. It isn't necessarily a bad thing for them, it just isn't the traditional way but I'm a modern employer so I want a modern nanny!

Oh, I understand you now

Yes, £20k gross per year gives roughly £302 per week for a normal (647L) tax code. It will go up and down by up to £1 because of the way payroll calculations work.

sorry i meant monthly pay nett from gross and the difference in what you would get each month ifswim (sorry not explaining very well)

say you earnt £300 a week nett, so just under £20k a year

if i use the basic tax code then would be £302.38 instead of 300 is that right if you earnt excalty 20k?

The difference depends on how much the nanny earns, and his or her tax status (mainly if it is the only or main job).

At £110pw there is no tax or NI to pay, so there is no difference.

At £150pw net the difference is £14, so £164pw gross, plus the employer has to pay £7 employers NI to HMRC on top of that.

At £250pw (perhaps a live-in or part-time live-out) it is £59pw, so £309pw gross( plus £25 employers NI). But note that if this is the nanny's second job so the employer must use the BR tax code, the gross amount is £345, plus £30 employers NI - a difference of over £40 a week. That is why it is not appropriate to expect a net salary on a second job that is the same as on a main job. Or for that matter to expect to double your hours and take home double the pay.

At £500pw it is £171, so £671pw gross (plus £72 employers NI). In this case, the total cost to the employer is nearly 50% more than the nanny takes home.

Definitely not pennies.

poppy34 - i am very spoilt by my family

last 3 bday pressies have been i pod, spa day vouchers and shower gel,body creme, perfume in my fav scent

tbh most nannys as long as you REMEMBER their birthday are happy with a card and hopefully a small gift

i know 3 nannys whose familys forget their birthdays and one had been their nanny 4years and forget every year

depending on what your nanny likes vouchers for books,cinema, spa day etc are always nice

back to gross/nett - how much difference is the salary each month if gross and not nett?

are we talking pennies or pounds?

SycamoretreeisVile - it usually only varies by a small amount (except when there are tax changes) so the other thing you can do is pay a set amount by Standing Order and then give her cash (or ask her to take it out the kitty if you have one)to make up the remainder if it's under.

Thanks NN. Yes, you're right, I mean standing order.

That's what I thought I'd end up doing - just using online banking to switch the amount monthly according to payslip.

Thanks.

I can't wait for my nanny to start. I just forgot DD's swimming lesson for the second week in a row . We need someone to organise us!

Sycamore

For those that do pay gross, can I just ask how you know exactly what to pay your nanny net each month, particularly if you direct debit their salary?

You don't direct debit someone's salary. I think you may mean paying by BACS or Standing Order. These days most banks will let you send payments via BACS fairly quickly and at low cost, so once you get the payslip, you then instruct the bank to transfer the net amount (minus any amounts coming from childcare vouchers) from your account to the nannies account.

Blondses while you are about what type of things have been appreciated by you as birthday gift from employer? Our lovely nanny birthday in a couple of weeks - was thinking of vouchers for somewhere . What do you reckon?

I pay and contract is based on gross although when salary expectations were discussed it was net so grossed it up at rate of
time.

i know we should talk about wages in gross, but i blame the nanny agencys and including nannytax who always state jobs in nett

i state what i want in nett and work it out roughly what is in gross so employers know what they are forking out

if we do mention gross to parents, many want nett figures

we cant win

I concur Annh. I really don't get why nannies, over and above all professions, should be exempt from the realities of tax life.

They will get a sharp shock should they ever decide to change professions.

Well, I don't have a nanny any longer but if she (or he!) came to me looking for a payrise based solely on the fact that taxes were rising, it would be a very short conversation! I can't imagine that many of us would be able to renegotiate our salaries with our employers on that basis, so I wouldn't (and couldn't) treat my nanny any differently. For one thing, I probably couldn't afford the double whammy of receiving less in my own pay packet and simultaneously having to pay my nanny more.

but realistically will my nanny take the hit when taxes rise? If I were her, I'd want to renegotiate if there was a significant change to the net, and I'm sure she will want to do so too.

Wow how interesting. I haven't even dreamt of negotiating with my employer if taxes rose - and wouldn't expect my nanny to do so either. So on the same logic, would you reduce gross pay if taxes went down? Just curious.

we have offered our nanny her salary on a gross basis and she has accepted

we will use HMRC to work out the tax and NI and we will pay that accordingly

I'm not an employer but my boss pays me weekly, and has to make a conscious effort to send me the money each week (they sometimes forget and it's a few days late but I know they're good honest people!)

I'm in London and have just hired my second ever nanny and am paying her gross.

I took the time to really lay out the figures for her so she could see everything clearly and she was happy enough to accept on those terms.

For those that do pay gross, can I just ask how you know exactly what to pay your nanny net each month, particularly if you direct debit their salary?

We will be using nannytax again for payslips etc, but give it won't be a set figure each month as with net, how to you cope with the small monthly adjustments?

Well said Athene

gross gross gross. Wouldn't consider any other way. I'm happy to explain current net conversion. But, if her taxes rise, then that is matter for her and Gorden Brown... just as my employer will not change my salary to off set any taxes.

Either you want to be looked after (like a nanny in the Victorian era) and enjoy all the perks that came with that OR you want to be a professional employee just like the people for who you work in the new millenium. But you can't expect to be a professional employee when it suits you and a "cared for" member of the household when it suits you.

Beside, balancing the expenses and some basic accounting is part of being a nanny. If can't even work out your paycheque how are you going to do the financial aspects of the job?

our contract gives both gross and the current net equivalent. I wanted the protection of having the gross, but realistically will my nanny take the hit when taxes rise? If I were her, I'd want to renegotiate if there was a significant change to the net, and I'm sure she will want to do so too.
This is complicated further by having verbally agreed a net figure.

Always gross and I am on my 3rd nanny. I just convert the net into gross and make that the offer and in the contract.

I know that nannies like to know what they are getting but we are all epmloyees too and if our tax rises and we have to cover the nannies tax rise there could be some seriously strapped parents.

Surely for nannies its better to have a job than be priced out of an already very difficult market place ?

I'm an employee not an employer but my bosses pay me gross and all the jobs in my area are advertised as gross

We pay net. She has an day rate and we pay her accordingly. It is a pain, as the amount we pay her monthly including tax changes from month to month depending on how the month falls, so in the end we decided to pay a tax agency to sort it all out.