Nanny share - minimum wage

[ChoumertMum]

Hello - looking for some advice. Has anyone doing a nanny share come across new guidance that says each family in the share must both be paying national minimum wage?

We currently have a sole charge nanny but are looking to do a share with another family on a 60/40 split (we have two children and they just have one). Our overall gross costs cost are ?17 an hour so our 60% meets NMW but my payroll provider Nanny Tax say HMRC are clamping down on shares and that the other family paying 40% wouldn't be high enough.

I've called HMRC but they say its not something they are aware of and I need to speak to ACAS. but after 40 minutes holding on the phone to ACAS I thought I'd try here instead.

Both us and the other family are intending to do exactly the same hours so it seems really strange that the total pay to our nanny wouldn't be the only thing that counts.

all advice gratefully received!

thanks

Kath

[chezare84]

Could this be because you are paying the nanny a flat fee per hour? Your 60/40 split suggests you are just working out the total weekly amount then splitting it, as opposed to it being hourly per family. That could be the reason why. If you pay half hourly rate while in the share so that each family pays equally, then pay a higher hourly rate when not in the share, it should be fine. So for eg, each family pays ?9ph while in the share, ?12ph when it's just you child. However, I'm not a financial expert!

[JaneKinnin]

Surely what matters is how much your nanny is actually being paid - not how much each of you is contributing?

[Houseoflego]

Why don?t you pay 6/10 of the hours worked and the other family pay 4/10 of the hours worked and avoid the problem.

[motorbird83]

That sounds like nonsense. Assuming her hourly rate is never below the legal rate it shouldn't matter. I can't see how HMRC could substantiate that legally.

[etta166]

If you are both registered as her employers, separately, and therefore both make use of the full NI lower earning limit, then legally you both have to pay NMW.

You can work around it by one family paying for Mon-Wed and the other for Thus/Fri. The you are in a 60/40 split and paying above the NMW. You should get legal advice on your contracts with the nanny, and have a writte nanny-share agreement between the families too.

[susanj]

Just wondering if anyone with nanny share experience has just had one family pay the nanny directly for the total amount owed (and thereby be her employer) and had the other family pay their share to the first/main family?