Nannies for a one off event and HMRC / employment regs

[falalalalalalalallama]

I know if you employ a nanny you need to treat them as an employee and sort their tax out etc.

But what if you just employ a nanny for a one off community event, for one afternoon every 3 months or something like that?

I know there are agencies that do this kind of thing, but I'm talking about paying the nanny direct. Does anyone know what the rules are around that?

It's such a small amount of money and time it seems nuts to have to treat them as an employee?!

Thanks :)

I wouldn't call that a nanny job, more cash in hand occasional babysitting, unless you'd be asking people to sign up for e.g. every third Thursday of the third month upfront.

That isn't an employment situation. You're fine to pay cash, you can actually earn up to £1000 without have to declare it anyway.

So, in law it's baby sitting?

What if it was every month, but only 2 hours, would that be employment then?

Are you wanting the same people every time? If there is mutuality of obligation involved, so they are obligated to do the work when it is available and you are obligated to provide the work, then it is looking more like employment.

I would doubt that will be the case though, as you would probably have a few people you would ask, and some will be available the day you want and others will not. So it is more them providing you with a service. Though you would need to enable them to set their own pay rates based on what you need them to do and perhaps depending on the particular date.

I would be looking for people who are already self employed for other things they do, who have UTR from HMRC and who will produce you an invoice for work done.

I have a job where I am an employee who does 10 hours per month, so it is possible to do it as employment but it's probably easier if you find people who will do it freelance... as long as you don't mind having different people do the work, finding enough people who could do the work when asked, subject to them being available.

Thanks nannynick :)

you would probably have a few people you would ask, and some will be available the day you want and others will not. So it is more them providing you with a service

Yes, that's exactly it. And we'd ask them how much they charge and they'd tell us and we accept it or not - we don't set the price.

So, I need to look for nannies who are already self employed then? Or just let them know it's their responsibility?

As I said you can earn up to £1000 tax free anyway. So it’s likely to be fine. But it depends on what you need.

If you are only offering occasional work then you can reasonably assume they have other employment and can pay them gross, they should be declaring it as self employment income. There is official hmrc guidance for employers as to how many hours a person needs to do and when they are considered a contractor eg substituting another person

@underneaththeash

As I said you can earn up to £1000 tax free anyway. So it’s likely to be fine. But it depends on what you need.

If they're already earning money elsewhere then they will have used up this allowance though, won't they?

@gogohm

If you are only offering occasional work then you can reasonably assume they have other employment and can pay them gross, they should be declaring it as self employment income. There is official hmrc guidance for employers as to how many hours a person needs to do and when they are considered a contractor eg substituting another person

Yes, very occasional!

It's called Trading Allowance: www.litrg.org.uk/tax-guides/self-employment/what-trading-allowance

So if they have employment they use their personal tax allowance for that. Trading allowance would be used for occasional self employment, selling things on etsy, that sort of thing.