Payroll Mistakes Parents Make (and How to Avoid Them)

Even the most organised parents can slip up — here’s what to watch for (and how Hirelo fixes it).

Hiring a nanny is one of the best decisions a busy family can make. But it also makes you an employer — and that’s where many parents accidentally go wrong.

Here are the top 5 payroll mistakes we see (and how to avoid them):

1️⃣ Paying cash-in-hand.
It feels easy, but it’s not legal if your nanny earns above the weekly threshold. HMRC penalties can stack up quickly.

2️⃣ Forgetting pension contributions.
By law, eligible nannies must be auto-enrolled into a workplace pension — and you need to contribute too.

3️⃣ Missing HMRC submissions.
Every payday requires a real-time submission to HMRC (RTI). Late filings = fines.

4️⃣ Miscalculating overtime or holiday pay.
A good payroll system automatically calculates this based on your nanny’s contract and working hours.

5️⃣ Relying on manual spreadsheets.
It only takes one small error in Excel to cause a huge headache later.

With Hirelo, everything above is handled automatically — from RTI submissions to payslip generation — saving you time and protecting you from mistakes.

Join the families already simplifying life with Hirelo.
Instant setup. Fully HMRC-compliant. £125/year.

Next
Next

Understanding Your Payslip — A Nanny’s Guide to Getting Paid Fairly