Au Pair as registered assistant??

[LittleStars]

When chatting with some other minders today about assistants one of them has her au pair registered as her assistant. She pays her cash in hand as you would an au pair (under the tax limit etc) and the assistant works 5 hours a day for her, she is really doing an au pairs duties but has allowed the minder to increase her numbers as she is also a registered assistant.....

This sounds too good to be true...

she obv doesn't get any tax relief from her wages and doesn't put any of the au pairs expenses through her books etc but she surely saves massively on not having to be liable for an assistants tax/ holidays/ maternity pay etc

Is this legal?? Apparently our local childrens information service has okayed it!! What do you all think?

[Chatterbox Childcare]

As long as she puts the au pair through her books I would say this is okay but if not and the IR check her accounts she is in trouble.

Why would you not want the expenses as well.

Ofsted will want to see records of when the Au Pair books after the children as well, her first aid certificate etc...

[LittleStars]

She doesn't put the aupair through her business accounts as she is paying the au pair to be an au pair and not paying her to work as a registered assistant....so the au pair is primarily an au pair which is what she is being paid for...but is registered as an assistant too ...she is not receiving extra wages as an assistant therfore her wages and expenses are personal expenditure rather than a business expense!! surely??

[Chatterbox Childcare]

yes the costs would be but she would still have to do her first aid and cRB for Ofsted purposes

[LittleStars]

Thanks for replies Debbie,

Im not making what I mean very clear...I guess what Im asking is that what she has done in taking on an aupair, then registering her as an assistant (crb and police check etc) a legal, cheap alternative to 'employing' an assistant (by cheap I mean not having to pay tax for them and not being liable for, NI, holidays, maternity etc....... or am I missing something.....! Im not tying to dump her in it or criticise her Im just curious as to whether this is a viable loophole.

[scamp]

I have an au pair as my assistant and it works well.

She is paid au pair pocket money for the hours she helps with my ds and for the housework and dog walking she does.

On top of that she is paid minimum wage for an average of 16hrs/week of childminder's assistant work. Below the tax threshold, but all legally recorded with wage slips and put through my books as a business expense. She is entitled to 4wks/year pro rata paid holiday and all the other legal employee rights.

The advantages of a live in assistant are that they are less likely to pull a sickie and leave you without cover.

They really get to know you and there is lots of time outside of working hours to talk about the job and discuss the hows and whys of your practice.

They bring a real benefit of their own language and culture to the day. We sing German nursery rhymes at snacktime now.

The quality of au pair can be excellent if you choose carefully. My current one is a trainee primary school teacher so is very motivated.

They are classed as live in workers so are exempt from the working hours rules which can make covering rest periods to keep up staff ratios a nightmare.

You can reduce their minimum wage by using the legal daily accommodation offset.

All my au pairs have been very happy to have the chance to earn more money on top of their au pair pocket money, and haven't wanted to leave.

I thoroughly recommend them.