Employment contract for a nanny

A family that employs a nanny is an employer with the obligations that any employer has: a written contract, the minimum wage, PAYE, a pension, insurance, holiday and sick pay. The contract has to set the pay (including the accommodation offset for a live-in nanny), the hours within the rules that apply to domestic work, the duties and the safeguarding requirements, the holiday arrangements that follow the family's travel, and the notice and confidentiality a role inside a home needs. I draft that contract for the family for a fixed fee of £595, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Families in England and Wales employing a nanny, mother's help, housekeeper or carer directly rather than through an agency, and nanny agencies that want a contract their client families can use.

What matters in a nanny's contract

The family as an employer and the obligations that follow

A nanny employed by a family is an employee, and the family must give written particulars under section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 from the first day, register for PAYE and operate it (or use a payroll service), hold employer's liability insurance under the Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act 1969, check the right to work under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006, assess the nanny for pension auto-enrolment under the Pensions Act 2008, and pay statutory sick pay and holiday; the contract supplies the particulars and the note with it lists the rest, because a family that pays a nanny cash in hand has an employee it is not treating as one.

Pay, the minimum wage and live-in accommodation

The nanny is entitled to the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 rate for all working hours, the exemption for live-in family workers having been removed from the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, with the accommodation offset the Regulations allow where the family provides accommodation; the contract should state the gross salary (not a net figure, which creates tax problems for the family), the hours it covers, overtime and babysitting rates, the treatment of expenses and the use of the family's car, and the pay interval, with payslips as the law requires.

Hours, working time and the domestic exemptions

The Working Time Regulations 1998 exclude domestic servants in private households from the limits on weekly working time, night work and rest periods under regulation 19, but not from the right to paid holiday, so the contract should state the hours and days, the position on evenings and overnight care, time off in lieu, and holiday at the statutory minimum or more, and should not rely on the exemption to require hours that no one could sustain; a nanny's long days are a feature of the role, and the contract should state them.

Duties, the children and safeguarding

The contract should describe the duties (the children's care, meals, activities, school runs, nursery duties and any household tasks), the family's rules on discipline, screens, visitors, driving and emergencies, the nanny's obligation to hold first aid training and an enhanced disclosure under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 regime, confidentiality about the family and the children, and the nanny's own obligations to report concerns; where the nanny drives the children, the family's insurance must cover it and the contract should require the licence and checks.

Sickness, holiday and the family's holidays

The contract should set sick pay (statutory statutory sick pay under the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 at least), the holiday entitlement, the family's right to require the nanny to take holiday when the family is away under regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 1998 on the required notice, whether the nanny is paid when the family travels and the nanny is not needed, and the arrangements when the nanny travels with the family (working time, expenses, time off abroad); a contract that is silent on the family's holidays produces the argument every August.

Notice, confidentiality and the end of the arrangement

The contract should set probation and notice with section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 as the floor, confidentiality about the family's affairs that survives the employment, the position of a live-in nanny's accommodation on termination (a short period to leave, because the accommodation goes with the job), the family's disciplinary and grievance procedures in a form suitable for a household, and the obligations when the children no longer need a nanny, which is a redundancy with the statutory payment where the nanny has the service; the probation wording allows for the Employment Rights Act 2025, whose changes to the early months of employment come in on a timetable the regulations set.

What it costs

Employment contract, £595. One template you can reuse for a grade of staff. Five working days.

Staff handbook and core policies, £995. Five working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the employment contracts and handbooks page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A bespoke contract drafted for how you employ people
• Restrictive covenants drafted at a scope a court will uphold
• Confidentiality and intellectual property provisions that put ownership where it belongs
• The statutory particulars, so the document does the job section 1 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 requires it to do
• Flexibility clauses where you genuinely need them, drafted to survive challenge
• Core policies: disciplinary, grievance, sickness absence, equal opportunities, data protection and, increasingly, AI use
• One round of amendments

What is not included

• Acting for employees
• Employment tribunal representation
• Payroll, pensions auto-enrolment and tax
• Immigration and sponsor licence work
• Day to day HR handling, disciplinaries, grievances and redundancy processes

Questions I am often asked

Do we have to pay a nanny the minimum wage if she lives with us?

The minimum wage applies. The exemption for live-in family workers no longer applies, and the accommodation offset is the only allowance. The contract states a gross salary that meets the minimum wage for the hours.

Can we require the nanny to take holiday when we go away?

If the contract provides for it and the notice the regulations require is given, yes. The contract says what happens when the family travels without the nanny and when the nanny travels with the family.

Our youngest starts school and we no longer need a nanny. What do we owe?

Notice, accrued holiday, and a statutory redundancy payment if the nanny has two years' service, with a fair process. The contract sets the notice; the redundancy arises from the ending of the need.

Related guidance and services

• Employment contracts and handbooks, £595, the service this page describes
• Consultancy and contractor agreements, £595
• Settlement agreements for employers, £795
• Employment contract for a care worker
• Employment contract for a nursery practitioner

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: October 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.