Increasing hourly rate

[CineworldYorN]

Hi all,

I work as a self employed nanny for a lovely family 4 days a week. The mum is an absolute pleasure to work for and I adore the little boy I look after.

I have been working there for over a year now and I also receive a top up from Universal credit. I'm a single mother to two girls who are in school.

UC are happy with the amount of hours I'm doing however they have decided I'm not gainfully self employed due to not earning enough. My issue is, I don't want to leave the current family I'm with because I enjoy the work but I also don't want to put up my hourly rate because that just feels really cheeky.

I was just wondering if anybody had any advice for me in this situation?

Thanks in advance!

How much is your current hourly rate, if you don't mind me asking? If you don't want to say the exact amount, is it over or under living wage? Over or under minimum wage? TBH if universal credit have said that it does sound as though you are undervaluing yourself, good reliable childcare is totally invaluable and with the cost of living going up so much everyone should be expecting to have to pay a little more for their services so I think you should ask for a rise, yes.

Also are you sure you really are self-employed? If you only work for this family and you work regular, set hours every week that you can't decline or send someone else to cover instead, it sounds an awful lot like you should actually be an employee - do they pay you holiday pay? NI contributions? pension? I say this not to insist you need to push that particular point if the self-employed arrangement really does work for you but to emphasise that they are saving themselves an awful lot of money and hassle if you are prepared to be paid cash in hand or by bank transfer rather than going via a proper payroll arrangement so they ought to be paying you at as very minimum the equivalent total cost of employing someone - if you charge less than £13 p/hour with no extras, no holiday pay/sick pay/NI contributions/pensions they're certainly getting a bargain!

You shouldn't be self employed as a nanny

The family should have a payroll set up and be paying you as an employee, including holiday pay, pension, etc

1. You cant be a self employed nanny. It is an employed position.
2. If you are on the minimum wage for 4 days a week then you also need to find another minimum wage job for the 5th day. You must meet the UC boundaries.
3. They are not getting a bargain if you are on less than £13.50 an hour - the tax payer is being ripped off and paying for their childcare

As PP have said, you can't be a self-employed nanny if you're working for one family 4 days a week. They have to employ you and you need to be paying tax. NI etc.

Hi,

Thank you all for your advice and information it's very helpful.

I will be speaking with them today.

Thanks!