HELP HELP has anybody been caught out paying a nanny cash in hand??

[whatnow]

we have been very very stupid and employed a very experienced nanny who said she was self employed and would pay her own tax and NI.

Now she is going to be off sick for god knows how long and i was looking around on t'net to see how we organised sick pay for her etc.

It seems that we have have been employing her illegally as we are liable for her tax and NI and she is not registered.

i am not sure what she is expecting, we had said that we would pay her 2 weeks full pay and then stat sick pay when we wrote down what we had agreed at the beginning of her employment, but i really don't know how she will get stat sick pay..

if she hasn't been payhing tax and NI we are stuffed big style
and if she has we are still stuffed because WE haven't been paying it IYSWIM.

and how can we pay her AND somebody else to look after the kids when she is off sick??

aghhhh , what now?
are we really stuffed??

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Well, that's nice of you if you can afford it.

Oh oops - this is your thread. I think you are being extremely generous in the sick pay thing - I'd never have expected that as a nanny.

I worked as a nanny to more than one family and was self employed for all of that time. I'm pretty sure that was ok at that time (over ten years ago now) to do that and the IR were fully informed of my position and I paid my income tax accordingly. Not sure if you can still do that now, but if working for more than one family, how else would it work other than being self employed? She should be taking care of her own affairs and if your heart is telling you to leave your job, then that is what you must do.

You are such a lovely person, I can understand why you feel bad, but really, a month or six weeks notice is plenty and same for the sick pay.

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So how do they work it then? I was working for three families at the time, none of whom were connected or knew each other. I did hear they closed the loophole, but I don't understand then how they work it as to who your employer is and who pays your NI and tax.

who is the OP? whatnow, oops or sunnyjim??..or all three???? and why three names in one thread?

or two as i now see sunnyjim is not 'answering' the thread

What a confusing thread this is, I'm totally baffled! [puzzled emoticon]

i believe that with a few exceptions (maternity nannies and some temporary nannies) nannies do not meet the Inland Revenue criteria for being self-employed, so she is your employee, with all the legal protection that brings.

if she was supplying services as a self employed person, they basically she's a contractor (or something!) and you are a customer - she bills you for her service and she, not you, dictates the prices. you are entitled to take your business elsewhere if you so choose (of course if you have agreed terms then you have to abide by them - like giving a childminder an agreed amount of notice) but you dont owe her anything like you would an employee.

now i know that, in reality, she is an employee, but i'm counting here on a) her not knowing that's how she is seen by law or b) her knowing it but being more worried about getting done for avoiding tax than loosing her place with you.

so you could tell her you dont need her any more and if she says you cant do that you could tell her you can choose to stop using any service at any time and if she trys to then claim she is your employee, you could tell her you will have to contact the IR to investigate and to find out your liabilities.

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