More questions about employing a nanny - feel quite anxious about this now

[conniedescending]

Firstly its the tax issue....can anyone point me in the direction of an exact nanny tax calculator? I need to know what the salary is in gross and cant seem to work this out - would like to have a def. wage figure to quote before I interview and so i can advertise it.

Also, what about contracts? Can anyone point me in the direction of a sample contract??

and what about holidays? whats the standard?

thanks

oh and should this nanny get pg or sick are we going to be in the position of having to pay for a replacement and current nanny?

I want to be a good employer and get all this straight in my head so as to give the illusion of knowing what I am doing

You need to decide on a gross salary as the tax depends on your nanny's tax code. The basic tax allowance everyone gets is £6,035 this tax year. Anything they earn over that you deduct 20% up to £34,800 (above that is 40%.

However if they owe tax back from perious years or have a company car or any other taxable perk their code can change accordingly.

As a small employer you would claim maternity pay back from the government and I think most sick pay too.

have a look on nannytax.co.uk they have a tax calculator and possibly an example contract. nannyjob.co.uk def has a sample contract although it is quite long winded!

Since 1 October 2007 all workers have had a statutory right to at least 4.8 weeks paid annual leave (that's 24 days paid holiday if you work five days a week). From 1 April 2009 this entitlement will increase to 5.6 weeks (28 days).

holiday pay

I think those figures include bank hols. I believe standard is to give 4 weeks plus bank hols -- all paid. Some families allow the nanny to pick two weeks. But some parents, especially those with school aged kids, ask the nanny to work with the school holidays.

You are definitely obligated to to provide mat pay / rights as well as SSP. I strongly recommend you write SSP only in the contract.

Crikey, do I have to give 5.6 weeks from April?!

Oh, ok. I think I'm okay. 5.6 weeks is 4 weeks plus 8 bank hols. ok, panic over.

I'd love 5.6 weeks holiday! I get a measly 2 weeks. Actually, I get more now that I am doing consultancy stuff, but it's unpaid. Which doesn't count cos I can't afford to do anything and I am in school anyway. I've not had a proper holiday for 2 years. Ugh.

2 weeks? That's not legal.

It is where I am. The good Ole US of A.

Oh... Where are you?

Boston MA where it is currently snowing. Again. Still. I've lost track.

I've never been to Boston -- shocking as that is as I am American. My roots are in Chicago.

I worked in Chicago for a couple of years a decade ago, was a nice city from what I remember, but very windy and bloody freezing in winter!!!!! I love Boston, it's close to the ocean and the mountains, and the people are generally lovely (when they're not behind the wheel)

If you want tax calculators, my preferred ones to use are:

www.listentotaxman.com
www.e-gismos.com/ukpay.asp

These will take a Gross pay figure and produce the weekly or monthly Net figure. The e-gismos one will produce Employers NI figure.

Sample Contract:
Nannyjob Employment Contract
Use as a template only, do a search of message threads on here with keyword 'contract' to find things to add / modify.

Holiday Entitlement Calculator

As others have said, in the contract put SSP. Then if nanny is sick, you can at your own discretion provide days off with pay, or just provide Statutory Sick Pay.

MAnanny - been a while since I was in Boston MA. October 2002 I think it was... my accommodation was in Rockport, lovely place (about an hour on the train from Boston city).

thank you so much nannynick - very helpful.

I am interviewing first of the candidates today [nervous emoticon]

Good luck with the interviews
Go with your gut instict.