Self employed nanny

[Princessiest]

Our nanny of 3y has resigned ( see previous post)
Another nanny who has done ad hoc cover for me has expressed an interest. She says she is self employed because she works for several families in different ways eg holiday cover , wraparound school and babysitting. She will do varying hours depending on term time or school hols for us.
I am happy to payroll her and pay NI and pension but she says it’s not needed. Where do I stand? I know she has an accountant.

For ad-hoc work they can probably run their own business.

Not clear if you are looking for someone who you would ask to work an occasional day and then have them decide if they will do the day or not. Are you wanting reliability or are you wanting to book on an ad-hoc basis?

"She will do varying hours depending on term time or school hols for us."

Define that clearer: That could be you wanting say 7am-9am and 3pm-7pm Mon-Fri in term time and 7am-7pm in school holidays. That would be employment in my view.

Ring HMRC and ask them.
If she's working for you regularly and doing set hours it's unlikely though.

She needs to understand that it’s the job not the person that determines whether she is self employed or not.

Presumably in her ad hoc work she can pick and choose whether to accept hours or not and it’s all very short term whereas for you I’m guessing you need some form of commitment to regular hours depending on whether it is term time or not.

As the employer it’s you that would face the bill for unpaid tax and employers NI, not her.