Public Liability insurance?

[Venusbluejeans]

Hiya,

I am new around here but have been reading your forum for a while and know it has proved useful for a good friend of mine.

My question is...

I am just starting a new job, I will be a Nanny to 2 children afterschool and school holidays.... I will be doing my own NI and Tax through self assessment so I guess I will be classed as self employed. (I would maybe like to set it up in the future so I can become a business and be able to look after after more children)

But at the moment will I need Public Liability Insurance??

Venusbluejeans (Emmz)

[enquirer]

Re: Public Liability insurance?

You would be very wise to obtain it. It would be worth checking if there is job-specific insurance available - Norland College might know.

[wales01man]

Re: Public Liability insurance?

IT would be foolish not to get Insurance Please do

[des8]

Re: Public Liability insurance?

I would be careful before jumping in as self employed if this is your first venture,
There's a lot more to it than N.I. & self assessment and Public Liability Insurance (essential)

Have you taken professional advice about going self employed?

If you don't go self employed,as an employee you get your national insurance paid and the employer has to do all the accounts & tax ( takes ages!) and source appropriate insurances (in case you fall over in their home etc) ....all this takes time and money...if you are self employed you have to do your own accounts ( or even pay someone else to do them) you also have to invoice for your services which again takes time...you need to register with tax office- pay your own national insurance stamp and take out public liability insurance and perhaps sickness and accident insurance.....
being self employed you won't earn when on holiday or get sick pay etc ( aside of statutory if paid enough NI contributions ) and you ought to draw up a contract between you & the family ........
Whilst long term you might aim to be self employed as you could 'loose' some income through your books and not pay so much tax- given the hassle of having to do all the paperwork you may think that small saving in tax isn't actually worth all the extra hard work.

I'm not saying don't go self employed, but do it with full knowledge of what is involved.

[strangewayofsavin]

Re: Public Liability insurance?

Despite the above threads (although they have some good advice) being self employed for tax purposes (essentially providing a contract of service) is not a bad thing, the reason being is: in most circumstances you may still be covered by employment law (not all workers are employees but all employees are workers is the theory). It would all depend on your contract, a true self employed person supplies their services for a price, like a builder, and determine what they work for and when (basically).
A person who is self employed for tax purposes works under contract for somebody else under their terms, and gets paid a total sum for services under that agreement, and pays their own Tax and National insurance under the self assessment format. Some contracts will put the contactor in a situation where they will need public liability, as the children are not yours, but your responsibility once outside the home then public liability will be yours and is advisable, however, if you are responsible for them only in the family home then any liability apart from your negligence will be theirs.

[ostell]

Re: Public Liability insurance?

I presume that you will be living in to be a Nanny. Doesn't look like a self employed job at all as you will be at the beck and call of the employers and agree to their start and stop times instead of being able to set your own times. This looks more like a ruse by the prospective employers to get out of the responsibility of paying tax and NI.

[enaid]

Re: Public Liability insurance?

You will need the insurance and if you Google you will see loads of ads for it. Just make sure you read the small print and the policy covers all your needs.
I have such a policy as I employ 2 PAs for my daughter, I will not recommend the company I am with, not because of any fault (I luckily have never had to make a claim)but because I think you should know exactly what you are buying with any insurance and therefore do your own research on it.
I will tell you it costs me £95 per annum so as you ge an idea of the cost.

[Venusbluejeans]

Re: Public Liability insurance?

Thank you very much for your replies, greatly appreciated.... I will look into it