A family that pays a nanny through PAYE is an employer like any other. HMRC expects registration before the first payday, a Full Payment Submission each payday, a payslip for the nanny, a P60 after 5 April and, for most nannies, a workplace pension. Nanny payroll agencies exist because families don't want to learn all of that. This post sets out what the two best-known names charge, what they do, and what the do-it-yourself route looks like.
Nannytax and NannyPaye compared
| Nannytax Essential | Nannytax Premium | NannyPaye payroll | Do it yourself | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price, monthly payroll | £276 a year | £365 a year | £215 a year | Free (Basic PAYE Tools) |
| Price, weekly payroll | £316 a year | £425 a year | £265 a year (weekly, 2-weekly or 4-weekly) | Free |
| Registers you with HMRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | You do it online |
| RTI returns to HMRC | Yes | Yes | Yes | You send them |
| Payslips | Yes, emailed when ready | Yes | Yes, emailed to employer and employee | You make them |
| P60 and P45 | Yes | Yes | Yes | You make them |
| Workplace pension | Not in Essential | Managed pension included | Add-on from £80 a year | You set it up |
| Pays HMRC and your nanny for you | Add-on, £17.50 a month | Add-on, £17.50 a month | NannyPaye Pro, £15 a month | You pay |
| Employment contract | Bespoke contract included | Included | £24.99 per contract | Your own |
Checked 4 October 2026. From each company's own payroll pages (sources below). Nannytax also sells Ultra (£474 a year, monthly payroll) with employer's liability insurance. NannyPaye charges £107.50 a year for an extra employee on monthly payroll. Neither page we checked states whether prices include VAT.
On these figures, a family paying one nanny monthly, with pension handled, pays about £295 a year with NannyPaye (payroll plus the pension add-on) or £365 with Nannytax Premium. Adding a service that moves the money for you adds £180 (NannyPaye Pro) or £210 (Nannytax Plus) a year.
What any nanny employer has to do
Whichever route you take, the duties are yours as the employer. A service performs them on your behalf; it doesn't take them over.
- Register as an employer with HMRC before the first payday. GOV.UK says you must do this to get your employer PAYE reference.
- Run payroll each payday: work out income tax from the nanny's tax code, and employee and employer National Insurance. For 2026/27 the Lower Earnings Limit is £129 a week and the employer's Secondary Threshold £96 a week, with employer NI at 15% above it.
- Report each payment to HMRC through RTI on or before payday, and pay HMRC what you owe.
- Give your nanny a payslip on or before payday showing gross pay, deductions and net pay.
- Assess your nanny for automatic enrolment into a workplace pension. The earnings trigger for 2026/27 stays at £10,000 a year.
- At year end, give a P60 by 31 May; when your nanny leaves, give a P45.
One cost families often miss: Employment Allowance, which knocks up to £10,500 off a business's employer NI bill in 2026/27, can't be claimed for someone employed for household or domestic work such as a nanny. GOV.UK makes an exception for care and support workers.
Doing nanny payroll yourself
Plenty of families do it themselves. HMRC's Basic PAYE Tools is free for employers with fewer than 10 employees and works out tax and National Insurance and sends the RTI submissions. A pension provider that accepts household employers handles auto-enrolment. What's left is the payslip and a little discipline each payday.
| Nanny payroll service | Doing it yourself | |
|---|---|---|
| Yearly cost | About £215 to £534, plus add-ons | Nothing for HMRC's software; your own time |
| Time each payday | Confirm hours or pay | Run payroll, send the FPS, make the payslip |
| Errors | The service corrects its own mistakes | You fix them, sometimes with an Earlier Year Update |
| HMRC letters | Often handled for you | You answer them |
| Pension | Included or an add-on | You choose a provider and declare compliance |
If your nanny's pay is the same every month, DIY is light work once set up. If hours change week to week, or you share a nanny with another family, the arithmetic and the paperwork grow, and a service starts to earn its fee.
Gross or net: agree it in writing
Many nannies talk about pay as a net weekly figure. Tax and National Insurance are worked out from gross pay, so a net agreement leaves you, the employer, carrying any change in tax code or rates. Agree a gross salary in the contract, and use a calculator to show your nanny what that means in take-home pay. PayDocs' free nanny tax calculator works backwards from an agreed take-home figure to the gross pay, and shows PAYE, both sides of National Insurance, pension and your total cost as the employer for 2026/27.
Where PayDocs fits
PayDocs is for the do-it-yourself route. It makes your nanny's payslip from your figures. PayDocs works out PAYE income tax, National Insurance and supported deductions for 2026/27 pay dates. At year end it can make the P60. It does not register you with HMRC, send RTI submissions, pay anyone or run a pension.
Creating and previewing a payslip is free; the finished PDF is £3.99 once checkout opens, or less per document in packs of 4 or 12. One 12-pack covers a year of monthly payslips.
Questions
How much does Nannytax cost?
Nannytax's own page on 4 October 2026 listed Essential at £276 a year for monthly payslips (£316 weekly), Premium with pension at £365 (£425 weekly) and Ultra at £474 (£534 weekly), with an optional £17.50 a month to pay HMRC and your nanny for you.
How much does NannyPaye cost?
NannyPaye's page on 4 October 2026 listed monthly payroll at £215 a year and weekly, 2-weekly or 4-weekly at £265, with pensions from £80 a year and its payment service, NannyPaye Pro, at £15 a month.
Can I do nanny payroll myself?
Yes. Register as an employer, use HMRC's free Basic PAYE Tools (fewer than 10 employees) for tax, NI and RTI, give a payslip each payday and set up a workplace pension if your nanny qualifies.
Can I claim Employment Allowance for a nanny?
No. GOV.UK excludes people employed for household or domestic work, such as a nanny, unless they are a carer or support worker.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Register as an employer
- GOV.UK, Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027
- GOV.UK, Employment Allowance eligibility
- GOV.UK, Review of the automatic enrolment earnings trigger and qualifying earnings band for 2026/27
- GOV.UK, Basic PAYE Tools
- GOV.UK, Payslips
- GOV.UK, P60
- Nannytax, nanny payroll and HR service (checked 4 October 2026)
- NannyPaye, payroll (checked 4 October 2026)
Sources checked 4 October 2026. This article explains how pay documents work; it is not tax or legal advice.
