is there any reason why I can't just advertise for someone to come to the house?

[doricpatter]

I want to go back to work in a couple of months, mostly just mornings. A childminder for two children will be £9/hour. Surely there's no reason why I can't just advertise for someone to come to the house to look after them ... or am I missing something?

So you're looking for a part-time nanny, basically? There's no reason why you can't look for that, but you need to consider who will be looking to work just mornings. Maybe a nanny share with someone who has school-age children?

A nanny - I guess so. That's a good idea about sharing, too.

Argh the stress!

You are missing 2 things:

1. If someone comes to your house to look after your children on a regular basis they are your employee which means they acquire certain rights, and you must operate PAYE in most circumstances.

1. The going rate for a daily nanny is £9-11 per hour, plus you will have to pay some employers National Insurance and other costs you would not get with a childminder.

mranchovy you took the words right out of my mouth!

As mranchovy pointed out, employing a nanny is slightly more complicated because you become their employer! Also, a part-time nanny who only works mornings will probably be at the higher end of the pay scale to compensate for the lack of hours.

A nanny share could work out well, but it can be tricky to find another family to share with !

That explains why everyone isn't doing it then! Thanks :)

One employer vs many employers

A nanny has to meet certain criteria to be self employed. In some rare cases this can be achieved with the acceptance of the inland revenue, but it is by no means common these days!

Here is the link to the details on the HMRC website:
Employed or Self-Employed

bringinghomethebacon - There has been a huge amount of discussion about that particular topic over the past couple of years on here. Someone may be able to provide a link to one of the main message threads on this topic.

Conclusion to which was that in 99% of cases a nanny is an employee.

Employment status is looked at in 'the big picture', so taking into account all of the work done by the person say over a typical month. It also looks at what each job involves - what the relationship is between the person doing the work and the person paying for the work. A nanny working for one family would be seen as their employee, particularly if they are being told what time to arrive, leave, what to do, when to do it.

If the nanny worked for say 6 different families a month and was free to choose when to do that work, then they may be seen to be providing a service. Even then they may be seen as having an Employer Employee relation to each individual job, so a Status Officer may decide that each job is actually of Employed Status.

Employment law exists to help protect employees. It gives employment rights, including things such as Holidays/Time Off, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Sick Pay.

A cleaner or gardener may have many clients. They may see several clients in a single day. Whereas a nanny usually works for just one family.

Not sure I've explained it well enough... perhaps someone else can phrase things clearer.