Maternity pay for nannies - anyone an expert?

[wassername]

I've interviewed a fabulous nanny and she is on my "shortlist" (that means I have one more candidate to see next week...) She has a toddler the same age as my own youngest, and it has crossed my mind that she might be thinking about having another baby at some point in the next year or so.

She won't have paid any NI for a while as she has been away from work since having her son nearly 2 years ago so I'm not sure how long it would be before she qualified for SMP (if it is based on NI contributions). I would only be employing her for 2 days a week and she doesn't plan to work for anyone else so she would probably not be earning much taxable income (if that makes any difference).

I have had a look on the HMRC web site at their SMP calculator but I can't really use it as it's really meant for employers with an established employee - ie you need to enter the salary you have paid and the NI you have paid and over what period etc. I wondered if anyone has dealt with paying maternity pay to a nanny and how they found it. I'm particulalry interested in how much SMP you can claim back.

Any tips welcome - it's a blardy nightmare!!

you'd eb better putting this in employment issues, the flowery bean bag might answer bump anyway

You can claim back SMP as a small employer. When a nanny went on maternity leave, I paid her maternity pay as a lump sum, and nannytax claimed it back for me from HMRC. The cash came pretty quickly - less than 2 weeks I think.

Thanks for the advice - I have checked out the small employer thing and it seems to answer my questions. I rang HMRC "New Employer" helpline and they were very helpful. As you said, fridayschild, as a small employer I will be repaid any SMP that I pay the nanny and also receive a small "compensation" (though not really sure why I should be compensated...but not going to look a gift horse in the mouth should it come to it)

It's a relief to know that if any nanny did get pregnant we wouldn't end up having to pay SMP for her and wages for another nanny at the same time - that would cost us much more than I would be earning.

as long as she isn't pregnant before she starts then she will be able to claim SMP - this means that if she falls pregnant a month into the new job, she should be able to claim

As an employer only employing one person, i think you can claim back 105% of what you pay out.

I am a nanny and due to leave for maternity in june-my boss knows this-I have said to them i wnt be able to go back fulltime, which they know, would like to go parttime, but they have 3 kids so im not sure wether they will just want 1 person for job, instead of two. Even tho i do a great job and they te kds love me, and they are nice people to work with, i understand it may come to point where i can't go back. But do thay still have to pay me maternity and would they be able to claim it all back as they earn quite a good wage I think

Any answers

Why is noone answering

yeh I know it's low no thats no way near [smile[ but what can you do. Thankyou for my answer