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Original poster

Nanny didn't tell us about other job...

52 replies

revellish · 26/04/2012 10:11

Hi parents,

We had signed a contract with our new nanny and two weeks after that she told us that she has another job and we can't make use of any of her tax-free allowance and we will have to pay basic rate of tax on her net pay, which is 20%, which significantly increases her monthly salary (by about £170-£180 approximately). I am quite annoyed that we will have to absorb this cost as it is quite a massive difference. What should I do? She should have told us about her other job and I feel like I have been deceived. Any advice?

Thanks!

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HolyCameraConfusionBatman · 26/04/2012 12:49

Gigondas I'm not saying it isn't different, or that it wouldn't have been better for the nanny to tell the OP in advance. I'm saying that it isn't a reason to 'get rid' or 'find another nanny'.

What the nanny does on her weekend is her business, unless her contract says otherwise. It's nice that your nanny told you about her course, but quite frankly, how she spends her Thursday evening is none of your business (unless the job description/contract mentioned staying late/babysitting etc).

Gigondas · 26/04/2012 13:33

It was discussed in context of being able to babysit or flexibility (eg what if end up delayed by transport)so was relevant.

HolyCameraConfusionBatman · 26/04/2012 13:39

Fair enough if it's relevant to the job, but the OP did not ask the nanny if she had another job, has not said she needed weekend cover, did not put in the contract that the nanny couldn't have another job and was in fact aware that the nanny would be looking for extra employment. The only issue was the tax, which as they have a gross contract is a non-issue anyway. This takes me back to my original point; the 'get rid', 'get another nanny', 'what else hasn't she told you' comments are ridiculous. You can't sack someone because they haven't told you their weekend plans!

nannyl · 26/04/2012 14:25

salarys should always be agreed in gross

just like nearly every other jobs salary is a gross salary.

I started being a nanny 12 years ago (and am now a SAHM) but anyway i have NEVER had a net salary in my contract... never.... and i would / did never agree it to be net even when stupid agenices discuss pay in net- always converted net to gross, for both of our sakes

Blondeshavemorefun · 26/04/2012 15:04

You have learnt a painful lesson. This is why you state in contract that the gross wage is xxx and then depending on the tax code the nett amount may vary by a few pence/pounds

Whether you decide to kep the nanny on is up to you. But if any doubts then get rid and find a new nanny. Your children will adjust I promise you

Blondeshavemorefun · 26/04/2012 15:08

And agree what the nanny does at the weekend or evenings or other days is her own business

I generally work 3 days a week and no way would I work for a family who have in the contract no other work may be done paid or otherwise without employers permission

Providing I turn up for work on time and do my job to my best ability then what I do in my own time is my business

nannyl · 26/04/2012 15:20

yes again i agree with blondes

Original poster
revellish · 26/04/2012 19:02

I don't think that it matters what else my nanny does with her time and if she wants to do a million other jobs that is her own business, more the issue is that she expressly told us that we would be using all of her tax free allowance. We agreed a gross monthly salary based on that fact. But obviously when she then later told us that she did already have a job which was actually using all her tax-free allowance then of course that really affects her take-home pay. I have been in contact with Nannytax today and the difference in her gross pay is about £200, and for us (when including employers NI) is £226! That is huge. We can't afford to absorb that cost (I think that she was basically asking for this when she told me about it) and because we agreed a gross monthly salary I don't think that we should do.

OP posts:
nannyl · 26/04/2012 19:28

if you have agreed a gross monthly salary i cant see the problem?

Why would a nanny expect to have a bigger / better tax allowance than anyone else working in this country?

you just need to be blunt, tell her this, then pay her the gross salary you agreed and think no more of it.

Rubirosa · 26/04/2012 19:35

Her take home pay is surely her look-out, not yours?

In any other job, you get paid gross. No other employer would care what your net pay is.

ElphabaisWicked · 26/04/2012 21:30

The shop she works for won't have deny day in whether she can use her allowance with you. They will already have been provided with her tax code by Hmrc as you will be when you send off her p46.

Her contract is gross do pay her gross deducting whatever Hmrc tell you to.

She could if she wants write to them to ask for her code to be split. Only she can do this. We once employed a 17 year old for a few hours on a sat afternoon. She also worked half a day in a local cafe her combined income was £30 per week but we still had to deduct full basic rate tax until we got a letter from the tax office agreeing otherwise.

Your nanny has to pay her tax. She hasn't got a leg to stand on.

ElphabaisWicked · 26/04/2012 21:32

Incidentally she will be able to reclaim done of it back at the end of the tax year S she will be on a standard code using her personally allowance at her other job but you will be taxing her at basic rate which is higher than usual

My dh has to do this each year as he teaches 3 days a week at one college and one day at another.

nannynick · 26/04/2012 21:39

she expressly told us that we would be using all of her tax free allowance. We agreed a gross monthly salary based on that fact.

How did you come to the gross salary figure? I'm confused... easily done at this time of night... are you saying that your nanny wants a specific take-home pay amount?

Original poster
revellish · 26/04/2012 23:48

We agreed that she would be paid £10.50 net per hour, which comes out to £910 net per month. We then 'grossed up' that figure to get her monthly gross salary because its better to agree a gross salary. But because we were told that we were the primary employer when we 'grossed up' the figure we did this taking the tax-free allowance into consideration. Now that we know that this is already used up, her take home salary is going to be less because she will be taxed basic rate which 20% instead of 747L or whatever. We would not have been able to employ our nanny if we had known that we had to add 20% to the salary. Basically we have decided that we are sticking to what we agreed in our contract as a gross salary: our nanny has the choice of working for that still, or potentially reducing her hours a little. (Or leaving I guess!) I wouldn't be too upset if she left actually, it would be a bit frustrating for a couple of months but I have a few other options of childcare so actually it wouldn't be that bad and that's why I'm sticking to my guns (as it were!) on the advice of people here and after thinking it through.

OP posts:
Rubirosa · 27/04/2012 08:48

I guess you've learned an important lesson about not agreeing net next time!

deefin · 27/04/2012 09:48

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by Mumsnet for breaking our Talk Guidelines. Replies may also be deleted.

Original poster
revellish · 27/04/2012 10:31

Rubirosa, we didn't agree net. We agreed gross. (But we worked it out from net because otherwise we had no idea of how to work out a salary!) The problem is that I don't know if I just want to say 'get on with it' now that she realises that she will be taxed 20% instead of getting her salary within the tax-free allowance.

OP posts:
Gigondas · 27/04/2012 10:35

Why don't you want to say get on with it? Are you concerned she may go?

Original poster
revellish · 27/04/2012 11:25

We talked about it this morning and she said that she could not work for less than £1,137.86 gross per month, which would be £84 more than what we agreed in her contract per month. Do you think that that is a reasonable request or that she should just get on with it? She has told me that she will have to leave if it is less than that figure.

OP posts:
nbee84 · 27/04/2012 11:43

If you can't stretch to find the extra £84 a month I'd call her bluff. She won't find it particularly easy to find another 2 day a week job that fits her schedule.

hattifattner · 27/04/2012 11:51

id agree - you mentioned above that you have other options, and really, she brought this on herself.

Fraktal · 27/04/2012 11:51

I would be incline to say tough, that's not what the calculations were based on. She withheld pertinent info and she should be negotiating based on what she needs to earn, which incidentally is quite a lot for a 2 day job. It isn't your concern and it sounds as though you can ill afford that increase.

Original poster
revellish · 27/04/2012 13:12

It is a £84 difference in her gross monthly salary, but roughly a £130 difference in the total cost to us because of employers NI that we have to pay on top on her gross. I really can't decide what to do. From September DD will be going to nursery school in the mornings 'til December but from January it goes to full time (9am - 3pm). Once that happens it becomes expensive to have a nanny just DS, so I was considering trying to organise a nanny share so the costs are kept down a bit (although worried about the amount of effort this might take to make it work!) or I have been recommended a lovely child minder which would mean that DS gets a bit of interaction with other children too. I think that I would consider some compromise if it wasn't such a big difference in cost and if I was 100% sure that this was a long term thing, but as I'm not sure of that I just don't know if I'm happy with it. (To make things a bit more complicated, I wouldn't want my nanny to do the dropping off and picking up from nursery school for my daughter while she is settling in because I would want to do that and be there for her. But I don't know how long that might all take! Maybe it would be worth keeping the nanny and paying the extra til December so I can drop off DD and then pick her up and take her home on the 2 days nanny is there if settling not going well?!) ARGH! Childcare!

OP posts:
StillSquiffy · 27/04/2012 18:33

Call her bluff.

ShhhhhGoBackToSleep · 27/04/2012 18:45

She lied to you saying she would have a tax free allowance, you agreed a gross salary based on this, and now she wants you to pay her more because she lied initially? Eh?

If she was thinking that she would be able to reduce the tax free allowance from her other job then surely she would have been in the same position anyway, as what she is losing in tax free from you she will be getting from them surely?

I would not employ someone who acted like this to be honest.