registering as a self employed nanny

[fabi1jazi2]

Hi
I wondered if anyone has any experience of registering as a self employed nanny. I spoke with H.M.R.C and they said i needed to register one week before i was due to start. What if the date of childcare got postponed after registration, would that cause a problem with me starting work?
Thanks

Unless very specific conditions are met nannies cannot be self employed, they must be employed.

Often the people you speak to on the HMRC 'helplines' are not properly aware of the rules themselves (my parents run a large limited company & have been given incorrect information many, many times

In general you register as self employed and start paying your Class 2 NICs, when you first make yourself available for clients to engage you. As when you are self employed you set your own hours, generally work for no less than three clients and can substitute someone else to do the work this why it is very difficult for nannies to be self employed.

The only nannies who could really fulfil the self employment criteria are nannies like maternity nannies who can pick & choose a series of short term contracts or nannies that provide something like one off emergency child care.

If you work the same hours each week for the same family or two families, if they dictate your hours then you are employed not self employed.

im se as a temp/emergency/ad hoc night nanny - but i chose when to work and if need time off when doing a booking the parents have to make other arrangements

why do you want to be se?

will you be working for lots of famillies, like i do?

Register as soon as you start trading... HMRC: Self Employed. I would register as soon as you make a business transaction, such as paying for something or getting a payment. You can then keep track of things in your accounts book.

If your turnover is going to be under 81,000 then you may want to use Cash Basis accounting. See Simpler Income Tax Cash Basis. So if you get a payment, you write the date the payment is actually made to you, such as the date on the cheque, the date on your bank statement, the date you are given cash. When you make a payment, use the date you made the payment.

HMRC has webinars. One is specifically aimed at Childminders, which may be one to do as you are doing a similar thing. You can ask questions via the webinar software (at certain times) though pretend to be a childminder so keep it to questions that a childminder could equally ask - such as what if you don't have many clients, what if you don't have many expenses as you have lots of toys/equipment already.
Some webinars are pre-recorded, so you can watch them at your leisure but they won't have interactive sessions.

I think you may be looking to be a bit like a respite carer (caring for disabled children to give the parents a rest) - is that right? If so, then you will only doing things as and when you decide you want to do so, so can turn down clients requests. Do not get in a position where you can not turn down a clients request - you need to have the control over when you work, not your clients.

Hi
Thanks for all of your comments. It is vague subject with lots of conflicting opinions which shows that clearer advice should be out there. Thankgoodness for mumsnet.