S*** ! I've been overpaying our nanny

[dontdance]

Long story short, new nanny started 4 months ago. Was having lots of problems with nannytax at the time, so I paid her using (what I thought) was the amount we used to pay our old nanny, except I have now realised that I transposed a digit and have been overpaying by £200 net a month. It's £200 plus the extra tax etc. It's money we can ill afford, but we have jobs we just can't fit around normal childcare.

So what do I do ? Part of me feels terrible for her, as she will be relying on this and obviously we'd never claw this back, but going forward I need to reduce her pay. On a slight good note we had Pre agreed a pay rise when we started so the gap will only be about £100, any tips for managing this ? Nannies what do you think ?

In our favour her previous employer paid her the same rate as us so surely she would have noticed a not insubstantial pay increase.

I'm the sort of nanny who likes facts and spreadsheets, so I would be happy seeing the calculations which showed the salary that should be paid. Then I would be delighted when I heard that you were not going to request payment back for the overpaid amount.

How you deal with your nanny will vary though as they may not be a math nerd!

S-Sandwich approach perhaps - good thing, bad thing, good thing.
So you could a quick review of how things are going, praise the great things, mention anything that could be improved and the overpayment, then mention that the overpayment won't be clawed back but this month's pay will be the correct pay and will include the previously agreed payrise but it will still be less than they were getting overpaid.

First of all, have you agreed a net amount or a gross amount in the contract?

Second of all, has she not been receiving the pay slip? I noticed one month that my boss had paid me the gross amount instead of my net amount and I was then paid less the month later. However, if she hasn't received the pay slip yet (why not?) Then she wouldn't have had a chance to see you've been paying her more and therefore it is your error really?

Contract is gross, but calculated based on a net PH basis. We also have a clawback clause for overpayment, so legally we're in a good place. I just don't want to be an arsehole.

This is totally my fault, I accept that.

So first couple of payslips were odd as she worked a part month and then some extra hours. I don't think she's checked since and neither have I.

So are the payslips wrong or did you just pay a different amount to that shown on the payslip?

If you paid more than the payslip shows then your nanny has responsibility as well as they should be checking that the pay they get matches with the Net figure on the payslip.

Don’t feel an arsehole - looks like the mamy has been playing stupid potentially?
If you’re generous enough that you won’t claw back the money, then lucky her.

If you are going to claw it back, I would possibly offer the option to spread it over 3 months if she needs the cash desperately.

How could she not know she was overpaid

If you discussed nett (never a good thing) then she must know what she should have been paid

£200 a month is a lot

If you aren’t asking for back. Very fair

Then simply say to her reliesed pay had been miscalulated and the gross amount is now xxx nett

I’m not sure how if she had pay slips how she didn’t notice

She’ll be expecting this conversation. And will be glad to be keeping the money that you’re not clawing back!

I'd be very surprised if she hadnt noticed that the money was more than she was expecting to be honest.

If you have paid more than was on the payslip you are likely to have a problem with HMRC. I suggest talking to Nannytax ASAP so that they can make appropriate declarations.

As for the nanny, I would agree that if she has payslips she should have noticed and queried the amount. I have never had a nanny who did not double check against her own calculations of how much she was owed. Could you suggest that instead of clawing back she works for the extra amounts over the next few weeks (eg through extra hours)?