Nanny payroll services

[Dioskouri]

We are in the process of hiring a nanny (privately, not through an agency), and need to sort out all the tax etc. All the main childcare websites seem to offer a payroll service. Are they all equal, or is one better than the others? Grateful for any experiences!

I use PAYE for Nannies who are based in Hunstanton in Norfolk. I think it cost me about £130 for the year and that includes the setting up of a contract. I actually work in HR so could have done the contract myself but having never had a nanny before wanted their template as there are things in it that aren't in a standard contract of employment.

They've been really helpful - payslips come out a couple of days before I need to pay her, they give good notice of payments to HMRC. I think it's a value for money service.

They also were able to provide advice on Ofsted registration (I wanted that so that I could use childcare vouchers - in terms of safeguarding it's pretty useless!) and insurance.

They are a bit cheaper than NannyTax (who certainly have the flashier website) and I liked them when I spoke to them over the phone.

All will do the basic function. The difference comes in how friendly you find their staff, their knowledge of the industry - some companies employ current/ex nannies and employ parents who had or currently do employ a nanny, so they can see situations from different viewpoints.
Costs once you look at them are all fairly similar, some include everything in the yearly fee others will charge extra for things that may be essential like a copy of a payslip, doing payroll for a temp nanny covering your nannies maternity leave, charging more if your nanny leaves and a new one starts. Definately ask about what they charge for and what is included in their set fee.
The big companies have many staff so no need to worry if someone is ill. Small companies may have one main person who knows how to do the payroll and they have an admin assistant - if the main person is unwell, will the admin assistant cope?

Pick a couple and call them. See who you get on best with on the phone. You don't have to buy over the phone a good company knows that the first call is a fact finding call and you should not feel pressured in to buying.
Have a look around their websites, who provides lots of information for free? Find out about their prices before calling so you can quiz them about any additional charges.
Many will offer a contract service - is that a template or do they produce a bespoke contract based on your requirements.
Do they send physical payslips or expect you to go online and print them out? Do you like online systems, does your nanny?

NannyTax are the largest currently.
NannyPaye are in second place.
PayeforNannies I feel are third.
The others are all much smaller.

Monthly payroll should cost you under £200 per year in admin fee.
Weekly payroll will cost more.
Pension processing will be an additional cost - as a first time employer you won't need to provide your nanny with a pension until November 2017.

On the contract, I went for the bespoke one (which starts with a template obviously) and ended up changing and adding a few things on the advice of a colleague who has more experience than me of using nannies.

PAYE for Nannies seem to have a "shared inbox" approach so that if you send a query you may get an answer from a number of people, and the same when you call. That said, I have never experienced a break in service - even if the follow up question is answered by someone else, it's sensible.

I don't work for them, honest!

Oh and they send me pdf payslips by email which I print and give to our nanny.

Thank you all. That is very helpful.

My boss has used PFE for over 7 years and I get a printed payslip. I guess it depends on the service subscribed as to if you get printed or pdf payslips. Many companies I expect offer a choice or indeed a combination such as sending parents a copy via email and sending a physical copy to the nanny.

Are more and more of these services going more online - is that good or bad? Handy for getting reprints of old payslips I expect. Any pros/cons?

If anyone is interested, we've gone for the lazy option - NannyTax - because through the NannyTax Plus service, they will actually pay the salary and tax for you (instead of just sending the info for you to make the payments yourself). We wanted the least hassle possible. It is the most expensive service though.

No, don't do that! It costs a fortune, is it really worth paying over £100 a year more for them to do 12 bank transfers and 4 tax payments for you? PAYEfornannies are ace.

Is it really so hard to do a bank transfer to your nanny yourself?

How do they bill you for that, do they get the money from you first, then they pay the nanny? What if you were not paid until the last day of the month, when would your nanny get paid?

I just wanted one less thing to think about tbh

I'm not sure exactly how it works (need to go through all the stuff this evening). I assume you set up a direct debit instruction. You would obviously need to be confident there would be sufficient funds in the account when NannyTax take the money.

Would be interested to know how well you find it works. If you have a healthy bank balance it should be fine.