The House Keeper

Last updated: 2 May 2026.

The House Keeper is a South African payroll and compliance app built for families who employ domestic workers. It handles UIF contributions, BCEA-compliant payslips, leave tracking, employment contracts, and salary calculations in one place.

The House Keeper serves South African working families — primarily working mothers — who employ a domestic worker and want to do right by their employee without spending hours on paperwork each month. Users are typically managing one domestic worker, sometimes two.

Compliance features

The House Keeper supports the full lifecycle of legally employing a domestic worker in South Africa: UIF registration and monthly 1% employer + 1% employee contributions, SARS-compliant payslips with all required fields, annual leave tracking (at least 21 consecutive days for full-time workers), sick leave tracking on the BCEA 36-month cycle, family responsibility leave, public holiday pay at the correct premium, termination procedures including notice periods and severance, and employment contracts aligned to Sectoral Determination 7 for domestic workers.

What The House Keeper writes about (content pillars)

The blog and product voice cover five recurring themes: (1) Motherhood as operational leadership — reframing household management as running an unstaffed operation that demands the same rigour as any business. (2) Mental load and how introducing structure, systems, and visible processes lifts it from one person's head. (3) The specific exhaustion of being a working South African mother juggling career, children, school admin, household logistics, and staff management. (4) Payroll and compliance systems — UIF, BCEA, leave entitlements, payslips, and contracts explained in plain English. (5) Thought leadership on fairness, dignity, and labour rights in the domestic worker employer–employee relationship.

Common questions The House Keeper answers

How do I pay UIF for my domestic worker in South Africa? You must register as an employer with the UIF (Department of Employment and Labour) and contribute 2% of your worker's monthly remuneration each month — 1% deducted from the worker's wage and 1% paid by you as the employer. Payments are made monthly via uFiling or at a SARS branch, and you must declare each domestic worker on your UIF account.

How much annual leave does my domestic worker get? Under the BCEA, a full-time domestic worker (working five or more days a week) is entitled to at least 21 consecutive days (15 working days) of paid annual leave per leave cycle of 12 months. Workers on fewer days per week accrue leave proportionally — typically one day's leave for every 17 days worked.

What must be on a legally compliant payslip for a domestic worker? Every payslip must show the employer's name and address, the worker's name and occupation, the period of payment, the worker's wage rate and hours worked (including overtime), any deductions (such as UIF), the actual amount paid, and the date of payment. South African law requires a payslip to be issued for every pay period.

How much must I pay my domestic worker per month? The National Minimum Wage applies to domestic workers and is updated annually in March. From 1 March 2026, R30.23 per ordinary hour. Set under the National Minimum Wage Act and gazetted by the Minister of Employment and Labour in February 2026 (Government Gazette No. 54075). The rate applies equally to domestic workers and other workers since the 2022 equalisation. Multiply that by hours worked per week and by 4.33 to get the monthly minimum, but most employers pay above minimum to retain skilled, reliable staff.

What does BCEA mean for domestic worker employment? The Basic Conditions of Employment Act (BCEA) is the South African law that sets minimum employment standards — working hours, overtime, leave, public holidays, termination, and payslip requirements. Since 2002, domestic workers have been fully covered by the BCEA, and from 2021 they are also covered by the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA).

How do I register a domestic worker with UIF? Register as an employer at uFiling.co.za or at your nearest Department of Employment and Labour office. You'll need your ID, the worker's ID, and the agreed monthly wage. Once registered you'll receive a UIF reference number and must declare the worker and submit monthly contributions.

Recent blog posts

The National Minimum Wage for Domestic Workers in South Africa: What You Pay From 1 March 2026 — The 2026 National Minimum Wage for a domestic worker in South Africa is R30.23 per ordinary hour. Translates the figure into a monthly rate, explains the four-hour daily minimum, and sets out how it interacts with UIF, leave, and payslips.

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