Carer Payroll Services UK
Comprehensive Carer Payroll Services For UK Families
5 Steps To Get Your Carer Payroll Just Right
Step 1
Agree How Much You Pay Your Carer
Step 2
Set up a contract
Step 3
Understand Your Payroll Duties
Step 4
Choose a Payroll Carer Provider
Step 5
Set up payments
Why You Should Always Agree a Gross Rate
If you agree a net rate with your carer, either you or your carer could lose out significantly. Here’s why:
A net rate means that as the employer, you pay the tax and NI on top — no matter how high it gets. You could end up covering tax from a previous year, before your carer even started. No business would ever agree to that.
A net rate means your carer misses out on any tax refunds. For example, after a period of lower earnings or a gap between jobs. That’s simply not fair.
A net rate also means your carer misses out on increases to the personal tax-free allowance. Over time, the cumulative effect is that carers on net pay lose out on significant sums. That’s not fair either.
Always negotiate a gross rate, and we’ll show you exactly how much your carer should take home net (or you can use our calculator).
Why a Written Contract Is Important
A solid contract is essential for carer payroll. It clarifies pay (including alignment to the carer going rate), duties, hours, and termination – preventing disputes before they start.
We provide template contracts tailored for carer employment to keep everything legal and clear. Register now and get your carer payroll moving today.
Your responsibilities as an employer
Our job is to help make sure you meet your legal responsibilities as an employer and your contractual responsibilities to your carer.
HMRC need you to register as an employer as soon as your carer starts, make monthly deductions from the pay, and submit copy payslip information on or before each pay day. We do all this for you. You must pay over the tax and NI deducted, along with Employer’s NI, either once a month or once a quarter. We’ll tell you exactly what to pay and when to pay it. Your carer has various employment rights, such as paid holidays and the right to be paid the National Minimum Wage. We’ll explain all of these and guide you through.
Auto-enrolment pension legislation will also impact, normally requiring an employee letter after the first payday and a pension scheme within 3 months. Read more about pensions here.
Last, but not least, your carer has to be paid correctly, paid on time, and given a payslip. Our carer payroll services make sure this happens every time.
In a hurry? Register now and we will get things moving the next working day.
Choosing a payroll provider
All good carer payroll companies will provide you with payslips and tell you how much to pay HMRC, but many hit you with additional charges further down the line. Make sure you know what you’re paying for before you sign up.
Watch out too for those that try to sell you add-ons you simply don’t need, such as extra insurance. In most cases, your household insurer will provide adequate cover at no additional cost, so try there first.
We have a single annual subscription for our monthly payroll carer service charged from £260 pa, with no additional or hidden costs, regardless of how many carers you pay during that period.
If your carer is paid over £10,000 pa, they will at some point need to be enrolled into a pension scheme, so you should know how your carer payroll services provider will deal with this. Most require you to set up the pension yourself, with little or no choice of pension providers, and then charge you for administering it. NannyMatters solutions are far more helpful:
- You can choose any pension provider you like, deal with them direct, and we won’t charge you anything for calculating and deducting the pension contributions
- Or, you can choose our fully-managed pension service, for £60 pa, and we will set up a NEST pension scheme for you and deal with every aspect of it including the scheme set up
We don't charge extra for
- Paying a second employee alongside, or paying a temp when covering sick or maternity leave
- Setting up or closing down your PAYE scheme
- Claiming tax refunds, or funding for SMP
- Backdated payroll problems
We do charge extra for
- Weekly payroll: an additional £70 pa. We want to discourage weekly pay because of the extra work created for you and for us, with much tighter deadlines for notifying HMRC if anything changes. Very few people are paid weekly nowadays; monthly pay is best practice. If you want weekly, we can do it, but do try to persuade your carer to accept monthly pay instead. We can help by working out advances or loans to avoid any hardship issues.
- Our optional pension management service: from £90 pa
Setting up payments
Paying your carer on time is a fundamental responsibility. We can help you find the best method for you and your carer.
Monthly Pay
Paying monthly, in arrears, is the simplest and most common approach. You can pay 1/12th of your carer’s annual salary each month, or base it on actual hours worked. Our carer payroll experts will help you decide the best setup for your arrangement, including live-in, term-time, or irregular hours, and handle all the calculations for you.
Pay Day
We recommend choosing a clear, consistent payday – usually the last working day of the month or a fixed date such as the 28th. Setting a regular schedule keeps things simple for both you and your carer.
Transferring the Net Pay
We’ll confirm the exact amount to pay your carer so you can transfer it directly from your account. You stay in full control of your bank account at all times. Once payments settle into a routine, you can set up a standing order, and we’ll make any adjustments when needed.
Cash in Hand
It’s legal to pay in cash if it’s processed through carer payroll, but unreported ‘cash in hand’ payments are not allowed. Paying or accepting cash without declaring it to HMRC is against the law. Contact us for confidential advice if you’re unsure about your current setup.
Tax-Free Childcare
If your carer is registered with the correct authority, you can use your tax-free childcare account to pay both your carer and HMRC. It’s a convenient, compliant way to manage payments. Ask us for our free helpsheet for step-by-step guidance.
Get in touch with us
Office and New Enquiries
(Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm)
(Allow next working day for a response)
West End House
Blackfriars Road
Nailsea
Bristol
BS48 4DJ
