Help - sick pay for temporary position

[JoshandJamie]

I am hiring a nanny for just 10 days (over a 2 month period). This is a short term temporary job - she has another more full time role. I am just writing up her contract (using an example from nannyjob.co.uk which a mumsnetter steered me towards) but it talks about statutory sick pay. Would I need to pay this for a temporary position? And if so, does anyone know what the SSP is?

Are they 10 days specified? SSP is pretty low and doesn't kick in until after the 3rd day off work. I would think you are pretty safe.

However.... for a 10 day temporary contract, do you need to take her on as an employee? Could she work contract for this short amount of time?

Yes - the 10 days are specific dates during the months of Aug and Sept. She is already employed as a nanny for 3 days a week and she was looking for some part time work to fill up her other days and I needed some temporary cover. I would prefer not to have to take her on as an employee but I think because she's already employed by someone else, she has to keep everything legit.

How does contracting work? I assume she'd still have to pay tax on her wages.

give her cash. i would, wouldnt go through the paperwork for just 10days.

She's specifically asked for this to be done properly as she's trying to get a mortgage and wants to have clean tax records. It does seem like a hell of a schlep for 10 days though. Spoke to a nanny payroll company who will do it all for me for £60 and apparently I get a tax rebate of £150 or something.

I think temporary nannies can be contract. If she worked for you say four days a week, every week, for months, then she would be your employee. But, a few days here and there shouldn't make any difference. I would hire her on contract. You might ring Inland Revenue to double check this is okay.

But, as CarlyP says, who is ever going to know if you give her cash for ten days of work? And what about the extra £60 for the taxes? And what tax rate do you get? I bet her other employer has right to the lower tax rates (unless they pay her in gross). I think you are taking on an awful lot for 10 days of temp work.

i use nannypaye, pay them 160 per yr to sort our nannys py and tax. but i wouldnt do this for just a few days work.

I spoke to nannypaye and they said they would handle it all for £60 but that we'd get a tax rebate of £150. That doesn't make sense to me. Will try to call inland revenue to find out about the contracting side of things

That is right. The rebate is being offered by the IR for filing electronically.

But, why are you bothering with any of this if you don't need to? If I wasn't legally required to be an employer, I certainly wouldn't choose to be one. Why can't she work contract and sort out her own taxes? She can still put this income onto her mortgage application. It's just that she's self employed for the 10 days.

I'll speak to her about it - I think she's as scared about taxes as I am and just doesn't want to mess up. Thanks for the advice