Self employed nanny?

[dylansaunty]

Hi, Hope someone here can help.
I have applied for more information about a nanny job via gumtree.
The agency has contacted me and said the family want the postholder to be self employed.

How does that work? I thought they had to employ you, pay your NI etc.

Can someone advise me?

thanks

In 99% of case a nanny will be employed so you are right and they should be paying your tax and NI out of your gross salary.

As an employee you are also entitled to holiday pay, sick pay, maternity pay/leave and redundancy entitlements. As a self-employed person you would have none of those.

Status is determined by the nature of the job:

"If you're not sure whether your work counts as self-employment, ask yourself these questions:

Do you have the final say in how the business is run? NO*
Do you risk your own money in the business? NO*
Are you responsible for meeting the losses as well as taking the profits? NO*
Do you provide the main items of equipment you need to do your job, not just the small tools many employees provide for themselves? NO*
Are you free to hire other people on your own terms to do the work you have taken on? Do you pay them out of your own pocket? NO*
*
Do you have to correct unsatisfactory work in your own time and at your own expense? NO

If you answer 'yes' to most of these questions then you are probably self-employed already, and should notify HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) immediately. You may be charged a penalty of £100 if you fail to register within the first three full months of becoming self-employed."

from Businesslink

Don't do anything else through that agency. Also, don't go anywhere near the employer! Employers sometimes try to get away with this, to avoid the expense of paying employers NI, and the hassle of arranging tax and payslips. As a nanny employer in the past, it only took a quick internet search to show me that it would be illegal for me to call them self employed.

I thought it was illegal, but I thought I must be wrong, as surely an agency wouldn't ask me to do it if it was. Would they?

I think that it is illegal to be self employed as a Nanny. Sounds a bit dodgy to me too. What is the reason for them wanting you to be self employed?

I don't know, Bumpy. I have emailed them asking for more information about it.

Lets see what they say. I just wanted to check with more experienced people whether this was usual or not.

It sounds like it is not.

It isn't illegal to be a self employed nanny bumpyboo. I am one.

However this is because I decide what days and hours that I can work, I decide how much holiday (unpaid) that I will take and when. I decide who I will take on as clients and most importantly, I only take on part time, temp work. Most of it as a maternity (night) nanny.

I am currently in my 3rd year as being self employed and tax office are fine with it.

Echoing what Paula said the 1% are maternity nannies who can be SE or continuous temps. If you have to turn up every day of the year you can't be.

It comes back to being determined by the job. If a particular job expects you to turn up every day, at a time they say, have holidays when they want you to, do what they say etc you're employed.

If you decide when you want to work and the hours, decide when not to work and take holiday etc then you can be self-employed but you do need confirmation from HMRC, and I would advise getting it twice and in writing.

It's not to their or you benefit to have you wrongly SE v
because they could find themselves liable for a huge fine and back payment of tax and NI.

A Nanny working for 1 family cannot be self employed.

See DirectGov:

You can usually work out your employment status by asking a few straightforward questions.

You are probably self-employed if you:

• run your own business and take responsibility for its success or failure
• have several customers at the same time
• can decide how, when and where you do your work
• are free to hire other people to do the work for you or help you at your own expense
• provide the main items of equipment to do your work

You are probably employed if you:

• have to do the work yourself
• work for one person at a time, who is in charge of what you do and takes on the risks of the business
• can be told how, when and where you do your work
• have to work a set amount of hours
• are paid a regular amount according to the hours you work, and get paid for working overtime - even if you do casual or part-time work, you can still be employed

You can be SE nanny. You can draw your own contract. And in that contract you can put paid holidays if you want to, or sick pay if you are not able to work like an employed nanny. Then It's up to the parents to agree with your contract, if they are happy with it they will sign and you will work for them. Simple.

But you have to have more then 1 family to work for and you have to do your own tax returns, NI contrubitions etc.

thanks for all your advice, everyone.

I will wait for the agency to come back to me.

The job is 4 days a week, 40 hours, so I think that this will be the only family I work for. So I really don't think self employed is the right way to go for this situation.

4 days per week, 40 hours a week... sounds like employment to me. Odd that the agency is saying it's self employed. Maybe the parents just don't want to do the payroll - well, they can get a payroll company to do that, from £100 or so a year. If you decide to meet the parents, take along details of a few payroll companies - PAYEforNannies, NannyPAYE etc so the parents know they can get help with doing the payroll paperwork.

def sounds like you will be employed

i often blame agencys rather than parents, as tbh parents employing a nanny for the 1st time havent got a clue, so they go by what they are told