Employers should be aware of what their minimum requirements are. Even if it is your first time being an employer, it is a requirement under law, to give your nanny their minimum entitlements. This includes ensuring that you:

• Pay nannies what their employment contract states, and at least the legal minimum wage.
• Give the nanny at least four weeks’ annual holidays.
• Give the nanny the day off on 11 public holidays or give them an alternative holiday if they work, if it is a normal working day for them.
• Pay at least time and a half if your nanny works on a public holiday.
• Give employees at least five days’ sick leave per year.
• Act in good faith and with honesty.
• Provide a safe workplace.
• Do not deduct money from wages unlawfully.

For more information check out the Employment NZ website: https://www.employment.govt.nz/starting-employment/rights-and-responsibilities/employment-responsibilities/

The relationship between a nanny and their family is one of employer and employee. This means that you must have a written, and signed, employment agreement before your nanny begins work

The employment NZ website sets out some guidelines around what is required from an employment agreement, as well as providing some useful templates.

Once you’ve agreed on the terms of employment, and signed a contract, you need to make sure you are meeting your legal requirements with the tax department.

To ensure that you pay the correct tax deductions, you will need to collect the following documents from your nanny:

• Completed tax code declaration (IR330)
• Completed Kiwisaver forms (KS2 or KS10)
• Bank account details
• Any other relevant information

In addition to that, you will also need to make sure you are filing the necessary returns with the IRD each month. The IRD has some useful guidelines around what is required when you become an employer

While it is not technically a legal requirement for employing a nanny, providing an adequate staff induction is an important part of any employment relationship.

The employment NZ website provides an excellent guide on what you should include in your induction.

One thing that we see is as important for a nanny’s induction is a robust health and safety plan. In particular, this should cover what would happen in the event of a natural disaster – i.e meeting points etc.

Paying ACC is a legal requirement of any employer. You will be responsible to pay Workplace Cover as this is the standard cover for all employers. It provides cover for your employees' rehabilitation and weekly compensation after an injury.

While there is no way around not paying your ACC bill, it is important to make sure that you select the correct ACC rate. Your ACC is calculated as a percentage of your total employee costs and the rate will vary from industry to industry depending on the deemed level of risk involved.

We recommend that families should use the ACC code “Child Minding Service – in the home” which has a BIC code of S953920.

Last, but not least, is making sure that you meet the legal requirements for your payroll. One of these aspects is making sure that you issue your nanny with a payslip for each pay period. This is an important aspect of payroll as it gives the nanny confidence that their pay has been calculated correctly.

If you are struggling with issuing a payslip, or don’t have the software to allow this, then do give us an email and ask us for assistance.

Our mission is to make it as simple as possible for households to manage payroll for their nannies.​

Pay The Nanny provides friendly, accurate and flexible nanny payroll services to nanny employers. We take care of everything to do with PAYE, ACC, holiday pay, sick pay, maternity leave and Kiwisaver.

For more information, check out our website at www.paythenanny.co.nz. Make sure you give us a like over on our Facebook page too.