how much should i pay my assistant

[oldandfat]

hi there. i have decided to take on an assistant. she is middle aged. how much do you think i should pay her per hour.

I pay mine £4 an hour, and I feed her! She is a qualified nanny.

Can you pay £4.00 that is below minimum wage I think that is against the law!

She is classed as self employed so there is no minimum wage. I employ her as an 'assistane mindee contractor' that way she does her own NI/tax etc

Oh that sounds good. Is she willing to actually work for that sum. I wouldnt.

thats what worries me. it is awfly low, but i need to make something for myself!

where did you both advertise for assistants?

No way I'd work for £4 an hour, it wouldn't be worth declaring it as an income for Self Employment even!

What would you want an "assistant" to do exactly?

mines a relative....she is retired she wont pay tax i don't really want her to do anything. just be there to help with sleep time, feeding time etc. and its handy in bad weather not to drag all kids out on school run

That sounds ok then, a bit of extra cash for her and a bit of relief for you.
I was just worried that you were going to employ someone to be a general dogsbody on £4 an hour! Glad to see you're not!

Haven't posted for ages but couldn't resist. My sister is Xena, (she has no computer now and her husbands blocks sites like mumsnet!)Shall I tell her about this thread? I am her childminding assistant. Registered as so with ofstead, have had full crb check etc.. She pays me £6 an hour. Same sort of thing as you are suggesting. Only one of us does the school run, so that we don't take all the little ones out. Help with general care of the children, we share the cooking etc. Sounds like I have a good deal!

now i feel guilty. perhaps i should pay her £5.00 (meet half way). i really don't expect much out of her.

My assistant brings her young son and does it just for a fe hours when it is manic her. All she really does is play and supervise them, she never cooks food, change nappies. It just another pair of eyes!

She is very happy with £4 as she says it feels like she is going to a mates for a coffee!

As I understand it, if you employ a family member, you can pay what you like. If you employ a non-family member, you are obliged to pay the minimum wage, plus tax, NI etc.

She is not 'employed' by me she is contracted to come and do a specific job for me....therfore a bit different. (Trust me, this was the area that I was in at my last job so I know what I am talking about!)

But I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you know what you are doin!

If she is working in your home, I thought that was different?? (even if it's a "contract" as such). Definitely different information being given to different people - I was told that if I have a friend here working as an assistant, albeit for a short, temporary period, I would have to pay tax, NI and minimum wage.

If you pay anyone anything for a service, then that money should be declared, etc, regardless of whether that person is a stranger or your mother! But everyone does a bit of cash-in-hand every now and then so we won't say anything!

The prisioner

I also have a cleaner - she works in my home and I don't sort out her tax / ni she does as she is a contractor. And to add my assistent does pay her tax/ni herself.

I'm trying to decide this

I'm hoping to go away for a week and paying them a "sole charge" rate - but they want to renegociate this rate

At the existing rate I will be loosing about £130 over the week (ie income less wages & expenses) never mind the actual wage I lose (as I'm not working)

So I'm trying to work out how much I can afford for this holiday to cost me (iyswim)