Hiring a nanny
Employing your nanny
When you take on your own nanny, you become her employer. Here’s what that means, in plain words, with the official page to check for each part.
Before her first day
- A written agreement: her hours, pay, duties and notice
- A withholding payer number (WPN) from the ATO
- Her tax file number declaration
- An icare workers compensation policy, if her wages will be over $7,500 a year
- Her super fund details, if she’ll work more than 30 hours in a week
- Her Working with Children Check, checked by you
- Her work rights on VEVO, if she’s on a visa
1She’s your employee, not a contractor
When you take on a nanny, she is almost always your employee. That’s true even if she has an ABN, sends invoices, or you pay her cash.
In 2025 the Fair Work Commission found that a family’s nanny was their employee, though they had called her a contractor (Dickson v Kovacs and Cespedes [2025] FWC 1218). She worked the hours they agreed, in their home, paid by the hour.
2Pay at least the minimum
Most nannies in a private home are covered by the Miscellaneous Award 2020.
From 1 July 2026 the minimum wage is $26.44 an hour. If she’s casual, she gets 25% on top. Check her exact level in the Fair Work pay guide.
3Leave, public holidays and notice
If she’s part-time or full-time, she gets the National Employment Standards: annual leave, personal and carer’s leave, public holidays, and notice if the job ends.
4Tax
Register for PAYG withholding before you first pay her. As a household you get a withholding payer number (WPN) instead of an ABN.
Ask her for a tax file number declaration, take the tax out of her pay, lodge your activity statements, and give her a payment summary each year.
5Super
If she works more than 30 hours in a week for you, pay her 12% super, whatever she earns.
Since 1 July 2026 it has to reach her fund within 7 business days of each payday.
6Workers compensation
In NSW you need an icare workers compensation policy, unless her wages come to $7,500 a year or less. A nanny working two days a week or more will be over that.
7Pay slips and records
Give her a pay slip each time you pay her, and keep a record of her hours and pay for 7 years.
8Her checks
Before she starts, check her Working with Children Check yourself, on the Office of the Children’s Guardian form for parents.
If she’s on a visa, check her work rights on VEVO with her consent. Some visas limit hours, or how long she can work for one family.
9Make it easy
Put what you agree in a written employment agreement.
A household payroll service can run her pay, tax, super and pay slips for you, so you don’t have to.
Where Vivaly fits
Vivaly helps you find her. Once you hire her, she’s your nanny, not Vivaly’s: you agree her hours and pay together, and pay her yourself or through a payroll service. When she’s sick or away, you can book a Vivaly caregiver by the hour.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change, so check the official pages above or ask an accountant. Last checked 29 September 2026.