After-school private arrangement - paying/insurance?

[SarahJim]

Hello - I am looking for afterschool care for my 2 primary aged children for 2 days per week for 2 hours per day.

If someone I know does this in my home and I pay them, am I officially employing them like a nanny? Would I then need to sort out tax/NI etc?

Is it against the law to pay cash in hand even for these few hours? Who would sort out insurance and things like this? I have no close friends/family who can do these hours for me, so it has to be 'official'.

My children would prefer to go to their own home which is very close to the school - but this arrangement seems very complicated and I'm tempted to look up childminders instead.

Does anyone else have an arrangement like this where money changes hands? Any advice appreciated - I'm finding it hard to know what the rules are!

Thanks
Sarah

I think it's against the law to pay cash in hand for any kind of employment.

If someone is looking after them in your home, then they are a nanny (presumably you're not looking for an au pair?) and yes you need to pay NI and tax.

A big faff for 2 days though - is afterschool club/cm etc really out of the question?

wouldn't the salary for 4 hours a week be below the tax and NI threshold?

www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/nic.htm

www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/it.htm

If it is below the national insurance and tax threshold AND the person has no other job then you have to get them to sign a P something form (downloadable from the inland revenue website) and then just keep it somwhere safe along with keeping a record of how much yoy are paying just in case someone ever asks but you don;t have to send anything anywhere.

This only works if they have no other job which uses up their tax code allowance.

They would still legally be your employeebut I think that most household insurance policies cover "domestic staff" such as nannies and cleaners.

Thanks for your replies...I've never employed anyone before. There are no after school clubs around here. I'm going back to university after being at home with them since they can remember and they're not taking it well. DD (8) cries at the thought of having to be sociable with other kids after school as well as during, which is how this came about!

The person I have in mind is employed elsewhere for the mornings so this sounds as if it would be unduly complicated money-wise. I think she will just expect cash in hand but I don't want to do that if it's not legal.

Is this different from having a regular babysitter? You'd pay cash for that, wouldn't you??

Babysitters are self employed but even they would have to declare any cash you give them. I think that babysitting hours are defined somewhere as being after a certain time (possibly 7pm) and most babysitters wouldn't be twice a week every week they would be once a week probably at most.

You're quite right elphabaisgreen, can you sense the note of panic as I write? I think that I'm going to have to look for a childminder and then sell the idea to the kids.

I'd thought this was a common arrangement, but it seems that it's not!

How about if the person you had in mind looked after your dd at her home, then she would be deemed as self employed and would just have to fill in a self assessment every year? As your dd is over 8 she doesn't need to be registered to mind at her own home.

Thanks, that would get around one problem but my son is 6 and I think that he is too young to do that. Phoning round childminders this morning.

Thanks for your help, you've clarified my thoughts. Sarah