Nannyjob blog – Page 40

Points to consider before signing a contract with your employer

As a nanny your employer has a legal obligation to provide you with a contract of employment within 2 months of your date of starting, this should detail the terms and conditions of your employment and you should ensure that this includes at least some of the following:

Your name and job title

Working days and hours

Salary

Holiday entitlement

Duties and responsibilities

Statutory payments (SMP, SSP)

Workplace pensions

Notice period

Disciplinary and Grievance procedures

You should always check and read the contract fully and understand the details and anything you are unsure of or you believe is not included should then be followed up with the employer before you sign and date.

Christmas Bonus

It is that time of year, you may want to give nanny a Christmas bonus, but remember it must be processed through the payroll!

As HMRC class this as taxable income.

If you have decided to give nanny a Christmas bonus, whether it be £50 or £1,000, you must declare it and it is subject to tax and NI.

If you have agreed a net bonus, there will be additional tax and national insurance on top of this amount. Whereas, if you have agreed a gross bonus, (please don’t give them that amount), as tax and national insurance will need to be deducted from that and you then pay nanny the net amount.

A gift such as a voucher, chocolates, wine will not be seen as a benefit in kind as long as it does not exceed £50.00.

Payroll Terms

These are some of the most common terms used in payroll.

Gross pay – this is the pay before deductions for tax, national insurance, pension and student loans. The gross pay includes overtime, commission, bonuses, statutory payments and any other taxable income.

Net Pay – This is what nanny takes home in her pocket.

Tax – Deducted based on nanny’s tax code which determines nanny’s tax free allowance and then any earnings above the tax free allowance is deducted at 20%.

NI – National Insurance. There are 3 types of NI for PAYE.

Employees NI deducted from nanny’s gross wage at 12% on earnings above £166.00 per week.

Employer’s NI on top of nanny’s gross wage paid at 13.8% on earnings above £166.00 per week.

Class 1A NICS, this is a yearly payment for any benefits in kind nanny may have had for the previous tax year.

SMP – statutory maternity pay. Nanny is entitled to 39 paid weeks of leave providing she meets the criteria. Nanny is allowed a further 13 weeks unpaid

SPP – statutory paternity pay. Nanny entitled to 2 weeks of statutory pay.

SSP – statutory sick pay. Nanny will get SSP after 4 consecutive working days of sickness

P60 – Nanny will be given this form at the end of the tax year to show her annual pay, tax, NI and statutory payments, she then keeps this for her own records.

P45 – When nanny leaves your employment, a P45 will be issued with her leaving date, tax code, if a student loan has been deducted and total gross and tax to date in that tax year, she then gives this form to her next employer.

Points to consider before signing a contract with your employee

Once you have decided to employ a nanny, and give them an offer letter, it is advisable to

include the key terms and conditions of the role, such as:

Job title,

Job description,

Days/hours of work,

Holiday entitlement,

Notice period,

Statutory payments,

Disciplinary and Grievance procedures

It is essential that all the terms and conditions of the employment are addressed in the form

of a contract of employment and this must be given to nanny to sign within 2 months of them

starting the position.

Once nanny accepts your offer of employment, you have entered into a legal arrangement,

(subject to satisfactory references) therefore the sooner a contract is drawn up between the

employer and the nanny, the better.

Qualifying Criteria for the Work Place Pension

Whether or not your nanny qualifies for the work place pension depends principally on your nanny’s age and their earnings. The new law requires every employer to automatically enrol workers into a work place pension scheme if they are aged between 22 and the State Pension Age, and earn over £10,000.00 per annum.

If nanny is automatically enrolled in a pension, they can opt-out up to 30 days after the initial set up has been completed and get a refund on the amounts which have been deducted from their salary. They must complete and return an opt-out form and inform their pension provider.

If your nanny does not qualify to be automatically enrolled they still have the right to join a work place pension. This is known as a Non-eligible job holder.

Non-eligible job holder is an employee who doesn’t have to be automatically enrolled into a work place pension, but can ask to be joined into a pension scheme if so wish. If they do, both the employer and the nanny will have to pay into the pension pot each month.

The minimum auto enrolment contribution rates are currently 8% of qualifying earnings. This is split between 3% which must be paid by the employer and 5% which must be paid by the employee.

Tax Free Childcare and Childcare Vouchers

Childcare vouchers will cease from the 5th October 2018 and thereafter the Tax-Free Childcare scheme will take over.

You can get up to £500 every 3 months (£2,000 a year) for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare.

If you get Tax-Free Childcare, the government will pay £2 for every £8 you pay your childcare provider via an online account.

https://www.gov.uk/help-with-childcare-costs/tax-free-childcare

You can get Tax-Free Childcare if you and your partner (if applicable) are –

in employment or getting parental leave, sick leave or annual leave

each earning at least the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage for 16 hours a week – this is £131.36 if you’re 25 or over

This earnings limit does not apply if you’re self-employed and started your business less than 12 months ago.

Your child must be 11 or under and usually live with you. They stop being eligible on 1 September after their 11th birthday.

Adopted children are eligible, but foster children are not.

If your child is disabled, you may get up to £4,000 a year until they’re 17. They’re eligible for this if they –

get Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment or Armed Forces Independence Payment

are registered as blind or severely sight-impaired

You’re not eligible if either you or your partner has a taxable income over £100,000.

Your childcare provider must be signed up to the scheme before you can pay them and benefit from Tax-Free Childcare.

DBS Check

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is a government body which processes criminal record checks that prevent unsuitable people from working with children and other vulnerable groups.

There are three types of checks –

Standard check shows spent and unspent convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings.

Enhanced check shows the same as standard and any information held by local police that’s considered relevant to the role.

Enhanced check with barred lists shows the same as enhanced check plus whether applicant is on the list of people on the list barred from doing the role.

These usually take around 8 weeks.

Cost of a DBS check –

Standard £26.00

Enhanced £44.00

Enhanced with Barred lists £44.00

Ofsted Courses

Paediatric First Aid

As a nanny you will be looking after and caring for young children. This course is aimed specifically for first aid in relation to children and will include –

Bleeding Cuts and Grazes, Broken Bones

Shock, Anaphylactic, Electrical

Choking, Resuscitation

Allergic reaction, Head Injuries

Common Core Skills for a Nanny

This course is aimed at helping nannies develop and enhance their work experience and knowledge of working with children and their families and will include –

Communicating with children, young people, their parents and carers

Child and young person development

Safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child

Supporting transitions

Multi-agency working

Sharing information

Ofsted Registration Process

Nannies at present are not required by law to hold any childcare qualifications.

However if they wish to become part of the Voluntary Ofsted Childcare Register (OCR) they have the same requirements as a childminder, the only difference being is that they are caring for the children in their own home.

To register, a nanny needs to complete online application via the Government Gateway website.

https://online.ofsted.gov.uk/OnlineOfsted

It will cost around £103 and needs renewing every 3 years.

As a nanny you will also need a Paediatric First Aid certificate, The Common Cores Skills and Knowledge in Childcare, Enhanced DBS Check and Public Liability Insurance.

SMP Statutory Maternity Pay

Holiday pay

Employees accrue holiday entitlement as normal throughout the maternity leave and this includes any bank holidays that may fall during that leave and this is a cost to the employer.

Any such holiday accrued is normally either taken or paid for at the end of the leave.

Antenatal classes

Employees are entitled to paid time off to attend these and except from the first appointment you can request proof of this.

If possible they should arrange these appointments at times she is not working although if full time employee this may not be possible.

Keeping in Touch Days

Employees are entitled up to 10 days classed as keeping in touch and any days worked are paid in addition to any paid SMP and is at a cost to the employer.

These days can be used for work and irrespective of the hours worked each day it is classed as a full day for Keeping in Touch purposes.

Pension

If employee contributing to pension when they go maternity leave their pension contributions will be based on the SMP paid, but the employers contributions need to remain at the same level they were on before the maternity leave started.

For example if the employers contribution was £15.00 then irrespective of the SMP paid the employers contribution would remain at the £15.00 throughout the maternity leave.