parent – Page 5 – Nannyjob blog

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.

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 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.

(ShPP) Shared Parental Leave

Expectant parents can now share the 52 weeks of statutory maternity leave after the birth or adoption of their child.

This leave and statutory pay can be split between them either one after the other or both can be on leave at the same time.

Expectant parents need to give each of their employers an indicative breakdown of the leave they plan to take at least 8 weeks before it starts. They are then able to change their minds twice during the year of leave and put forward new proposals.

This is paid at the same rate of SMP and is based on the salary of the parent taking the leave.

To be eligible both parents must share responsibility for the child at birth. and they must meet the work and pay criteria, i.e. have been employed continuously by the same employer for at least 26 weeks by the end of the 15th week before the due date, still be employed by the same employer while they take the leave and earn on average at least £118.00 gross per week

Notice periods are built in to the scheme so employers can make plans for the nanny’s intentions for leave.

Employers cannot refuse to grant any leave entitled, however they can refuse requests for separate non continuous blocks of leave and insist that all leave requested is taken in one block.

Both parents are entitled to Keeping in Touch days.

Jury Service

Our recommended partners at www.PayrollForNannies.co.uk provide payroll advice for parents and have created this content.

All employees must be allowed to take time off for jury service.

Employers can choose to pay staff for time taken off, but they do not have to.

The Court will pay the employee for the time spent on Jury service and employee will be given a statement of earnings notification which employee then gets employer to complete and then give to Court to claim for loss of earnings.

If employer chooses to pay employee whilst on Jury service, then it would be expected that the employee then repays the employer any payments from the Court that they receive for loss of earnings.

Alternatively, an employer can if they wish, but not obliged to do so, top up the employees earnings they receive from the Court.

Nannies and Mobile Phones

Our recommended partners at www.PayrollForNannies.co.uk provide payroll advice for parents and have created this content.

A lot of parents are becoming increasingly concerned regarding nannies and their use of mobile devices when they should be concentrating on their job, which of course is looking after the children in their care.

People generally, not just nannies, seem to spend a lot of their time on mobile devices whether texting friends or checking their social media apps.

Some parents are now putting a clause in the nanny contract limiting the amount of use a mobile phone or even supplying nanny with a work mobile phone and then nanny not permitted to use their personal mobile.

We would perhaps suggest erring on the side of caution as nanny may feel that if implemented you are not trusting them entirely.

Nanny-State Pension Age

Our recommended partners at www.PayrollForNannies.co.uk provide payroll advice for parents and have created this content.

What happens when nanny reaches state pension age

If nanny reaches state pension age, she will then not have to pay employees NI, this then increases the amount of money she will then take home in her pocket if she is on a gross wage.

If nanny is on a net wage, then the employer will then get the benefit of employee then not paying NI and will then see a reduction in the overall total cost each pay period.

What sort of parent are you?

Most of us when referring to our own parents would describe them as strict or easy going but over recent years new parenting styles have begun to emerge and parenting has become a bit of a minefield and depending who you talk to you either feel you are doing a brilliant job or are the worst parent out there!

Here are the top 5 parenting techniques currently doing the rounds, which one are you?

Instinctive parenting

This style of parenting tends to follow how you where bought up, the things that you felt your own parents did well or badly influence your decisions on what you do. You feel what is right for your child and family rather than follow the pack and what the ‘experts’ say is the right thing to do. If, for example, you always went to Cornwall for a week at Easter and this was a happy memory of your childhood you are much more likely to carry on that tradition than consider doing something different.

Attachment parenting

Parents who support the theory of attachment parenting tend to be more emotionally involved with their offspring. They always make themselves emotionally available to their child and believe that this bond makes a child more secure, more compassionate and calmer. The child is often carried closely, and they are usually breastfed until they are much older than the average child. Attachment parenting usually involves home schooling, co sleeping and positive discipline.

Helicopter parenting

The phrase ‘helicopter parent’ was coined in 1990 by child development researchers Foster Cline and Jim Fay and was used to describe parents who constantly interfered with their children’s lives and development, they ‘protected’ them from hurting themselves by not allowing them to climb the slide on their own or run ahead or play out doors without an adult in constant supervision and as the child grew they would micro manage their homework or projects never allowing the child to fail or make a bad decision. Obviously, we all want to protect or children from harm, but this form of parenting tends to smoother the child’s independence and can backfire later in life when they are young adults and struggle to make decisions and are often still very reliant on their parents.

Authoritative parenting

How many of us have said ‘because I say so’ or ‘my house, my rules’? Authoritative parenting is a parenting style characterized by high responsiveness and high demands. Authoritative parents are responsive to the child’s emotional needs while having high standards. They set limits and are very consistent in enforcing boundaries. However, research has shown that this form of parenting tends to produce the best all round child. Expectations are high for the child to achieve, behave, follow the rules but the child knows where they are and understands the boundaries. The parents are loving and nurturing and understand that the child needs to become independent whilst setting rules and expectations authoritative parents use reasoning and allow give-and-take discussions. Authoritative parenting should not be confused with Authoritarian parenting which tends to be more neglectful and colder.

Permissive parenting

Permissive parents tend to be very loving but do little to set boundaries or encourage discipline, they often have more of a ‘friendship’ with their children than a parent / child relationship and are dismissive of immature or irresponsible behaviour citing ‘children will be children’ rather than explain what appropriate behaviour might be. Permissive parents are often overindulgent towards their children, they are often inconsistent in their parenting style and are not adverse to resorting to bribery to get a child to do what is required of them. Expectations of achievement are often lower with permissive parenting which can lead to children under achieving as parents are happy to just let them get on with it and do as much or as little as they want to.