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Paid childcare

Discuss everything related to paid childcare here, including childminders, nannies, nurseries and au pairs.

advice please

11 replies

kimmy79 · 03/12/2013 19:40

hi all, to cut a long story short i am a registered cm, hasnt worked for me and now been offered a nannying position for 26 per week. The ins and outs of it suit me but as i have not been in a nanny role before i am unsure what questions i should be asking. The empolyers are sorting their paperwork but im unsure of how it all comes together.
How do nannies get paid?
what happens if you are not needed during school holidays as regard to payments?
Who's responsibility is it to pay for public liabilty insurance/business car ins?
what if your ill and cant go into work or they are sick and dont need you?

As i said unsure of what i should be asking and clarifying so if anyone can advise i would be grateful, thanks.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
nannynick · 03/12/2013 21:52

26 per week... is that 26 hours per week?

How do nannies get paid?

Usually via direct payment into their bank account these days.

You are an employee so your employer agrees a gross salary with you, they run PAYE which means they deduct income tax and employee national insurance and pay those on your behalf to HMRC. They as employers pay Employers National Insurance to HMRC.
Have a play with this PAYE Calculator. Enter in number of hours, number of days and gross pay per hour or per day or per week. See how the figures change with different gross salary.

Not sure what your taxcode would be but keep it as 944L in that calculator. Once payroll is started HMRC will assign you a taxcode if they don't want the employer to use 944L.
When completing your self assessment tax return you would enter figures for what salary you had been paid in other employments.

Payment is usually at the end of the month, so paid after you have done the work.

what happens if you are not needed during school holidays as regard to payments?

Depends on the contract. It is possible to have a term time only contract.
You need to consider if such an arrangement would suit you or not. Also you would need to consider if you would agree to taking all statutory holiday entitlement during school holidays. The family will need to pay you for days when you take holiday. Calculation for term time holiday entitlement is a bit more complex than for someone who works all year. You get 12.07% of time worked as holiday.

Who's responsibility is it to pay for public liabilty insurance/business car ins?

It would be your responsibility. You will need to contact your current childminding insurance provider to see if the existing policy covers it, or if you need a new policy. Motor insurance should be the same as you currently have, though if you brought via a brooker such as MortonMichel do give them a quick call to confirm.

what if your ill and cant go into work or they are sick and don't need you?
Statutory sick pay if you are ill. It does not start until the 4th day of illness. So basically you don't get paid if you have a day off, though many employers of nannies will look at each event and decide if they will pay or not.

Parents can't just decide they don't need you. They produce a contract that states your hours per week and salary, so they need to pay that regardless of them not wanting you to come to work. There is provision within employment legislation to lay-off staff for temporary periods but I won't complicate things by saying more about that, nanny employers would not usually use that provision.

Keep in mind that the family decides the salary, not you. The family provide the contract, they dictate the terms of the agreement. You work for them, do as they say. It is not like childminding where you have control over what you do.

There are various nanny payroll companies who can assist employers of nannies. I do suggest that parents at least talk to a payroll company, even if they do not decide to use their service, as the payroll companies will often provide quite a lot of advice about how to get things started.

Are you in England? Will the family need you to be Ofsted registered?
If so, check with Ofsted with regard to what you need to do with regard to your current childminding registration. You may want to keep it going a while, rather than changing to being a Home Childcarer. Ofsted I suspect will permit that for a while, though I would have thought that it would be wise to let them know that on x days you are a childminder and on y days you are a home childcarer (and give address of the family for whom you are nannying).

monkeynuts79 · 05/12/2013 22:21

Thank you, thats helped clear a lot up for me. Yes im in england, yes its 26 hours a week, when they contacted me a take home weekly amount was agreed so hopefully they will keep to that amount as i need the same income every week/month coming in. with my childminding i did not use my car as my insurance company wanted over £200 (yes £200) extra!! So i guess i wont be using my car for their needs either!

Any ideas on how a termtime only contract works as 13 weeks of the year is a lot of time without pay.
Thank you again, amazing help on here :)

nannynick · 06/12/2013 07:40

Take home amount? Net pay do they mean? That could be a problem given you will have tax return to do from your childminding business. Make sure you get payslips showing gross salary and all deductions.

Term time only jobs can be paid as work is done or averaged over the year. If averaged out and you leave the job during the work year then there may be an under or overpayment that needs sorting out.

Is this a nanny job the parents have advertised or have they contacted you as a childminder but they want care in their home? They need to realise the difference and get appropriate advice about doing payroll, contract.

Will you be able to do the job if you do not use your car?

monkeynuts79 · 06/12/2013 10:02

hi again, i am registered as a cm but have worked all my notices and had decided not to continue minding anymore when the family contacted me as they want care in their own home for their children. This suits me as i have no cm paperwork overload to deal with! So i am no longer minding which frees me up for the hours they need. They have started the ball rolling and have registered as an employer and are getting sorted.
Yes the wages agreed is for a take home amount but this was agreed before they looked into everything properly so im assuming they will find it more expensive with having to pay tax on it etc?
so with term time only, if an agreed weekly amount still stands do they still have to pay me for the school hols?
As for the car situation, as far as im aware everything such as school is within walking distance of their home so i will only need my car to get to and from the home, £200 on top of an already ridiculous car ins premium is too much for me to even consider.
thanks for your help, appreciated.

DoingItForMyself · 06/12/2013 10:20

I am insured with Sheila's Wheels and they barely added anything on for my business use. Admittedly I won't use my car a lot so I think I only put 1000 miles a year for work with about 9000 personal, but it might be worth shopping around for better car insurance.

nannynick · 06/12/2013 10:27

You need to ask your employer about the pay, how much it is gross per year, how that is paid such as weekly/monthly split over year or only during working weeks.

They can talk to nanny payroll companies about how to do different pay options and any implications that has to admin cost.

If they agree a net salary they will not know how much it will cost them as taxcodes vary.

monkeynuts79 · 06/12/2013 10:29

hi doingitformyself, i totally agree about shopping around! i had not long renewed my car insurance when i needed the extra coverage, i was just out of the cooling off period and so to leave my ins company would have cost me more in the long run. Everyone i know that added the extra insurance didnt get charged or was just a £20 admin fee, guess i got very unlucky with mine! come the next renewal i will shop around and have it added anyway :)

Can i also ask.....nanny v home childcare, what is the difference? i understand the cm role but looking for advice on nannying i came across home childcare in childs own home......whats the difference, is it regulations, pay, etc? x

monkeynuts79 · 06/12/2013 10:30

thank you nannynick :)

NomDeClavier · 06/12/2013 13:23

Nannying is a form of home childcare. Home Childcarer is OFSTED lingo for nanny, au pair, maternity nurse, babysitter, any childcarer looking after children in their own home. Administratively it makes more sense for them to have an umbrella term for anyone wishing to register to provide that type of care.

nannynick · 06/12/2013 13:34

Have you decided to resign your Ofsted childminder registration? Do not let it lapse, you have to resign it or keep paying it.

Home Childcarer is Ofstead lingo as NomDC says. It includes a category of childminder who only cares for children over age 8, just to confuse things.
It is due to The Childcare Register having 2 parts. As a childminder you are on the compulsory part and voluntary. As a nanny you can choose to be on the voluntary part.

monkeynuts79 · 06/12/2013 13:48

thanks again, yes im keeping my registration so will continue to pay when required, i have another offer to work with another cm in her setting so it makes sense to stay registered although i was hoping the nanny role would be less complicated!

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