Does anyone know?............

[Tas1]

I know that you cannot be a self employed nanny but you can be self employed if you are a maternity nanny, night nanny or a nanny in continuous temporary employment.

so... if i became a nanny in continuous temporary employment, to cover other nannies who are off sick for the day or families who just need a nanny for a day as a one off, how do I go about paying tax and NI?

You have to register and pay the flat rate class 2 NICs, and then you will pay income tax and class 4 NICs based on your tax return (so you will have to keep records showing all amounts charged, and receipts or records for mileage for tax-deductible expenses eg advertising). Here is the HMRC guide.

Thanks LadyMuck, but what do i class myself as on the form, as soon as i mention Nanny to the Inland Revenue, they tell me I cannot be self employed.

Put maternity nanny or childcare provider- that has been accepted as being self-employed for quite a while now.

When you submit your first return you can then add more details to what various jobs comprised. It is of course possible for some jobs to be self-employed but for other to be as an employee, though if you are only ever doing short term cover then you will probably get away with self-employed. But HMRC may at some point want details about the hour, length of job and what the duties entailed.

Thank you, just one more question if I may.
Could I be employed for 3 days a week by a family and they pay my tax & NI through nannytax as usual, then on my 2 days off be self employed as mentioned above, doing sick cover for example?

Yes. For tax purposes you look at each "job" independently. For your tax return you would declare both incomes, though you would have already suffered PAYE on the 3 day one.

If you had an idea of how much you were goign to earn as self-employed, yet also had a PAYE job, then you could contact HMRC and get them to adjust your tax code to take account of your self-employed earnings.