How Hirelo Keeps You Compliant with HMRC Every Month
Becoming a parent-employer sounds wholesome… until HMRC gets involved.
Once you hire a nanny, you’re not just a mum or dad anymore – you’re also an employer in the eyes of the tax office. That means PAYE, tax codes, National Insurance, RTI submissions, pensions, statutory pay and record-keeping. Every. Single. Month.
Hirelo exists to quietly sit between you and that admin, so your nanny is paid correctly and HMRC gets exactly what it needs – without you turning into a part-time payroll clerk.
Here’s what HMRC expects, and how Hirelo handles it all in the background.
HMRC expects PAYE – even for a single nanny
As soon as you employ a nanny and pay them over the relevant thresholds, HMRC expects you to:
Register as an employer
Set up PAYE (Pay As You Earn)
Deduct Income Tax and National Insurance from your nanny’s pay
Pay employer’s National Insurance where due
Report everything via Real Time Information (RTI) every time you pay them
With Hirelo, you:
Answer a few simple questions in plain English
Add your nanny’s details once
Let the system set up and manage the PAYE calculations for each pay period
No wrestling with HMRC calculators or trying to work out which NI category letter to use.
Real Time Information (RTI) – filed automatically
HMRC wants a report every time you pay your nanny (weekly or monthly). This is the RTI submission – and missing or messing these up can mean penalties.
Hirelo:
Builds the RTI file automatically from each pay run
Submits it electronically to HMRC on your behalf
Confirms the submission has been accepted, so you’re not left wondering
You see a clear record of what was sent and when, without having to log into HMRC’s own software.
Correct tax and National Insurance – with changing codes handled
Your nanny’s tax code can change during the year (new job, benefits, underpaid tax, etc.). HMRC sends notices telling you to use updated codes and thresholds.
Hirelo:
Stores your nanny’s current tax code and updates it when you add a new HMRC notice
Applies the correct Income Tax and National Insurance rules each pay period
Automatically reflects student loans or other deductions where applicable
You just see a clear breakdown of gross pay → deductions → take-home pay on each payslip, confident that the numbers match HMRC rules.
Auto-enrolment pensions – not an afterthought
Once your nanny meets the age and earnings criteria, you may have duties under automatic enrolment pension rules. That means:
Assessing your nanny’s eligibility
Enrolling them into a pension scheme if required
Calculating contributions each pay run
Keeping records of opt-ins, opt-outs and re-enrolment dates
Hirelo:
Flags when your nanny is likely to trigger auto-enrolment duties
Calculates employee and employer pension contributions as part of the normal payroll
Shows contributions clearly on the payslip and in your reports
So you’re not caught out by a pension letter from The Pensions Regulator months down the line.
Statutory payments (sick, maternity, etc.) worked out properly
Nannies are employees, so they may be entitled to:
Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP)
Other statutory payments where they meet the criteria
Getting these wrong by hand is one of the biggest stress points for parent-employers.
Hirelo:
Helps you record sickness or maternity leave periods
Applies the correct statutory rules and weekly rates
Offsets statutory payments against normal pay where required
Shows clearly on the payslip what’s “normal pay” vs “SSP/SMP”
That keeps you aligned with HMRC’s statutory pay rules – and keeps your nanny confident that they’re being treated fairly.
Payslips and records – all stored in one place
HMRC expects employers to:
Give employees itemised payslips
Keep detailed records of pay, tax, NI and pensions for several years
Hirelo:
Generates professional, compliant payslips for every pay run
Stores them securely so you and your nanny can access them when needed
Keeps a full audit trail of pay, deductions, RTI submissions and pension contributions
No more digging through email attachments when your nanny needs a proof of income or you’re completing a mortgage application.
End-of-year forms (P60, and P45 when they leave)
At the end of every tax year, and whenever a nanny leaves, there’s more HMRC paperwork:
A P60 summarising the year’s pay and deductions for each employee
A P45 when an employee leaves, so their next employer can apply the right tax code
Hirelo:
Automatically generates the P60 for your nanny at year end
Creates a P45 when the employment ends, using the correct final figures
Keeps copies in your records so nothing gets lost
You don’t have to work out which boxes to fill in – it’s all done as part of the normal Hirelo workflow.
Minimum wage, holiday pay and overtime – checked against the rules
Compliance isn’t just about HMRC forms – it’s also about ensuring you’re not accidentally underpaying.
Hirelo helps you:
See your nanny’s effective hourly rate (even if they’re salaried)
Record holiday pay and leave so you’re not undercalculating entitlement
Add overtime or extra hours at an agreed rate, keeping everything transparent
That makes it much easier to stay comfortably above minimum wage and show fair treatment if anything is ever questioned.
Clear monthly to-dos instead of HMRC overwhelm
Taken together, HMRC and employment compliance can feel like a huge, messy checklist. Hirelo turns it into something much simpler:
Each month (or week) you:
Confirm your nanny’s hours and any changes
Approve the calculated payroll
Use the summary to send payment to your nanny and to HMRC
Behind the scenes, Hirelo is handling:
PAYE calculations
RTI submissions
Pension contributions
Statutory payments
Payslips and records
So you stay compliant with HMRC, and your nanny gets paid correctly and on time – without you turning into a full-time payroll administrator.