Assistant pay & tax requirements

**retha** · 03-01-2011, 11:27 AM

Hi everyone
Happy New Year!!! Just got back from holiday and ready to start the new year now!

I am in the process of taking on an assistant to work with me as I have 3 parents on my waiting list wanting childcare. The assistant is a parent herself and will be bringing her 1yr old boy with her.

Since this means her little boy will take up 1 of my available spaces which I will not receive an income for I was thinking to agree her pay the following way to make it easy for both me and her:

- Let her register herself as self-employed so that she is responsible for her own taxes and NIC.
- She only works on the days where I need additional care where the amount of children will take me over my numbers.
- She receives the full income of the additional children in our care (above my own numbers) as her payment.

For example, I currently care for 2 early years children on a full-time basis. When she works with me it will increase my numbers to care for 2 additional children. Those children will be 'assigned' to her and she will receive their income as her pay.
This way she receives a good income and free childcare for her own child, I don't have to do her taxes, and I have an extra pair of hands.

Do you think we can do it this way if we both agree to it?
Thanks for your thoughts.

**sarah707** · 03-01-2011, 12:41 PM

Don't forget you will still be paying for the household bills and things like food when she is working with you... so if she takes all the money for the extra children then you will be out of pocket.

Also will she find it financially viable to only work hours you are over numbers? So if a child cancels one week she doesn't work / doesn't get paid... if I were an assistant I would want more job security than that and at least a small amount of fixed income per week for the hassle of a CRB check, first aid course, ongoing training etc.

When I was researching for writing my assistants e-book I investigated the best set up for payment and self employed is definitely easiest.

Hth

**karensmart4** · 03-01-2011, 02:36 PM

I have an assistant, she is self employed..she works 1 day every week plus ad hoc hours/days.

Her 2yr old comes with her and we treat him as we do the others with regard to paperwork, observations etc.

Because it's my house, my resources, mostly my paperwork, my food for snacks/cooking etc. etc. We agreed on a 60/40 ratio on takings.

It has worked well for us and it's very handy when you have school runs etc to think of in bad weather or if a child is asleep and you have to collect someone, or when the door bell goes the phone rings and a child needs the loo

Good luck with it, it is worth having an assistant just for the adult conversation factor

**retha** · 03-01-2011, 03:50 PM

Thank you both for your good advice.
I think I am definitely going to go down the self-employed path. Does that mean I do not have to worry about her taxes etc?

I like the idea of a 60/40% partnership very much and it sounds like just the answer I was looking for. Thank you!
What do you do on the days that your assistant is unable to work or on holidays - do you still pay her her share for the day? Did you write your own employment contract?

Thank you so much for your advice and help!

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 03-01-2011, 03:58 PM

Can I ask if you are not making any money then why do you want the extra paperwork? An extra pair of hands won't help as there would be double the children

The assistant has to have most of the checks that a full childminder does so would it not make more sense for her to register and maybe you work together? This way you are not responsible if she is off and you wouldn't have to find a replacement or turn away children.

**karensmart4** · 03-01-2011, 04:10 PM

Originally Posted by retha

Thank you both for your good advice.
I think I am definitely going to go down the self-employed path. Does that mean I do not have to worry about her taxes etc?

I like the idea of a 60/40% partnership very much and it sounds like just the answer I was looking for. Thank you!
What do you do on the days that your assistant is unable to work or on holidays - do you still pay her her share for the day? Did you write your own employment contract?

Thank you so much for your advice and help!

I only pay her for the time that she works, but I do work with a co minder as well so if one person is off it doesn't effect the children or parents. Whoever is working (both s/e) gets paid and if i'm off i still get a small percentage as it's my house they are using. As I don't employ either of them, we don't have contracts drawn up.

**rickysmiths** · 03-01-2011, 05:28 PM

You will need to check with the tax office but when I investigated the viability of working with an assistant last year I decided it wasn't worth it.

If the assistant wotks more than 15hrs a week and earns (so the chilrens fees are more) more than a certain amount they can not be Self Employed, you have to Employ them. This means paying them min wage, Min. of 25 days holiday a year (this includes Bank Holidays), sick pay, maternity beifits. Personally it wasn't worth the agro so I still work on my own! You have to get it right or you insurances will not cover you and you could both run into tax problems.

**Lick'le Oakes** · 03-01-2011, 05:41 PM

tHE ASSISTANT i HAVE ALSO BRINGS HER 21/2 YEAR OLD WHO I WAS LOOKING AFTER ANYWAY./ sHE THEREFORE( sorry capitals) claims tax credit for her childcare which i think a substantiale amount as she is a single mum. For this reason she has to work 16 hours which means she can't be self employed. I pay her 16 hours at mimimum wage which means as she is not over the tax threshold of £97 a week I don't have to pay her tax. I have rang the tax office on three seperate occasions now to check if I'm doing it right and they reckon I am. Hope this helps.

**sarah707** · 03-01-2011, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by rickysmiths

You will need to check with the tax office but when I investigated the viability of working with an assistant last year I decided it wasn't worth it.

If the assistant wotks more than 15hrs a week and earns (so the chilrens fees are more) more than a certain amount they can not be Self Employed, you have to Employ them. This means paying them min wage, Min. of 25 days holiday a year (this includes Bank Holidays), sick pay, maternity beifits. Personally it wasn't worth the agro so I still work on my own! You have to get it right or you insurances will not cover you and you could both run into tax problems.

I spoke to the tax office a few weeks ago and they informed me that this rule no longer applies.

The rule now is that so long as the assistant is free to look for work elsewhere then they can be registered as self employed.

They do not have to look for work elsewhere, simply be free to look.

This is the latest information according to the tax office - I have the details of my contact if needed.

Hth

**retha** · 03-01-2011, 07:04 PM

Originally Posted by sarah707

I spoke to the tax office a few weeks ago and they informed me that this rule no longer applies.

The rule now is that so long as the assistant is free to look for work elsewhere then they can be registered as self employed.

They do not have to look for work elsewhere, simply be free to look.

This is the latest information according to the tax office - I have the details of my contact if needed.

Hth

Thank you Sarah
If this is the only condition for them to be self-employed, does this mean I can employ an assistant without registering as an employer even if the assistant ends up working more than 15hrs and earns more than the PAYE threshold?
I just want to make sure I understand it correct because I've heard so many different opinions that I am starting to get confused.

I would also really appreciate if you could share the details of your contact at the tax office, if you don't mind

. Always good to speak to them personally just to make sure I am doing things right.

Thank you very much!

**sarah707** · 03-01-2011, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by retha

Thank you Sarah
If this is the only condition for them to be self-employed, does this mean I can employ an assistant without registering as an employer even if the assistant ends up working more than 15hrs and earns more than the PAYE threshold?
I just want to make sure I understand it correct because I've heard so many different opinions that I am starting to get confused.

I would also really appreciate if you could share the details of your contact at the tax office, if you don't mind

. Always good to speak to them personally just to make sure I am doing things right.

Thank you very much!

Yes that is my understanding.

he clearly said (a few times because I kept getting him to repeat it because of what I had read from Rickysmiths in other areas of the forum) that the definition of self employed is that your assistant must be free to work for more than one client.

It's nothing to do with how many hours they work or how much money they earn.

I suggest you give them a call tomorrow - I rang the Manchester office, you should ring one local to you.

I spoke to someone called David.

**retha** · 04-01-2011, 10:22 AM

Thank you so much!
I will ring my local tax office and talk to them too. Hopefully they say the same thing.
I will post again once I spoke to them just to report back when they said.

Thanks again!

**retha** · 05-01-2011, 10:19 AM

I am even more confused than before now....

I called my local tax office and asked them if my assistant can be self-employed and he answered 'NO'! I asked him what if they work less than 15 hours or earn below the threshold and he said it does not matter, even if she worked only 1 hour a week I still have to register as an employer and do her taxes etc because she works for me.

What is going on??????
Is there 1 general law regarding this issue or is it different in every area?
I really don't understand and don't know what to do now!

**Zoomie** · 05-01-2011, 01:13 PM

I would call again and ask a different question.

Ask if you are allowed to work with another self employed person, and are there any restrictions on you or the other self employed person.

Imagine you will get a completely different answer.

**sarah707** · 05-01-2011, 05:46 PM

Oh how silly

**Soniajane** · 03-03-2014, 02:13 PM

Originally Posted by sarah707

I spoke to the tax office a few weeks ago and they informed me that this rule no longer applies.

The rule now is that so long as the assistant is free to look for work elsewhere then they can be registered as self employed.

They do not have to look for work elsewhere, simply be free to look.

This is the latest information according to the tax office - I have the details of my contact if needed.

Hth

Hi I'm having difficulty finding out the info I need to know whether my child minding assistant can be self employed or if I have to employ her. She is my daughter and Ofsted said its all ok but I want to get the paying bit sorted. So if you could let me know your contact that would be really helpful.