Seasonal staff

Seasonal staffMy business gets busy over the festive period and a lot of my full-time staff have booked annual leave to be with their families. I’m therefore wondering whether to get some cover in over December and January. I assume these casual workers will just invoice me for their hours worked?

Erin, Loughton

Not necessarily- temporary staff may still be employees, and particularly if they are doing a job that would normally be carried out by a member of your staff. You will also need to consider the regularity of their work, the duration of their days, the terms of their employment, etc.

Furthermore, although these workers are perhaps only employed for a short period of time, they may be entitled to accrue holiday under the Working Time Regulations at the rate of 5.6 weeks per year.

Part-time workers can be a complex area, so please seek the professional advice of your local TaxAssist Accountant.

We provide tax accountancy services in Loughton and throughout the UK. http://www.taxassist.co.uk

Bad weather conditions

Bad weather conditionsIf an employee cannot get to work because of bad weather, do I still have to pay them?

Elizabeth, Worsley

Generally, there is no legal obligation to pay your staff if they are late in or do not arrive to work at all because of bad weather. They will have to take unpaid or annual leave. Having said that, you should check what is written in your employees’ contracts of employment, as you may have made some concessions.

If your employee is unable to get to work because they need to look after their children because their school is shut, this may qualify as Time Off for Dependents. An employee is entitled to as much of this unpaid time off as a tribunal would see fit.

Ultimately, you should ensure that your policies are clear and applied as fairly as possible.

If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact your local TaxAssist Accountant.

We provide tax accountancy services in Worsley and throughout the UK. http://www.taxassist.co.uk

Employing an apprentice

I’ve been thinking about taking on my grandson in the business. He’s only just left high school, but I’d like him to get involved in the business as I’d like him to look after the business after I’m gone. I’ve always taken on adults, so can you tell me what the main things I’d need to consider would be please?

Charlie, Widnes

Young workers have a lower limit to how many hours they can work (working time directive), when during the day then can actually work and more breaks are required during their shifts. And normal holiday and health and safety rules apply to young workers.

On the plus side, the National Minimum Wage that applies to young workers is lower than that for adults.

Depending on the level of their income and when they’re working, young employees can be subject to normal tax and National Insurance deductions. If they earn above £102 per week, then they’ll need to be added to the payroll, but they can earn up to £136 per week before you need to start calculating any deductions.

You may also be interested in the National Apprenticeship Service. Through this scheme, young people obtain on-the-job training from the employer and qualifications, and the employer gets some or all of the training costs subsidised by the government.

If you would like to discuss this further, please feel free to contact your local TaxAssist Accountant.

We provide tax accountancy services in Widnes and throughout the UK. http://www.taxassist.co.uk

Tips

I've just bought a restaurant and I know that the taxing of tips is a tricky area to get right. But can you tell me in a nutshell what the rules are?

Liam, Oldham

The three basic options you have for the payment of tips are as follows:

1. You allow the employees to keep their own tips. In this way, any tax or national insurance due is their own responsibility
2. All of the tips get put into one ‘pot’ (tronc) and you divvy them out amongst the employees. Their tips would then get added to their normal pay and appear as a separate item of pay on their payslip. In this instance, it would be your responsibility to calculate any tax due.
3. You set up a tronc system but someone else manages it (the troncmaster), such as a manager and they will independently manage the tronc scheme. Again, the tips are put into a ‘pot’ and divided amongst the employees but this time it would be the troncmaster who would calculate the tax due. Unlike the above though, a separate payroll scheme would be required, so they would not appear on their normal payslip.

In order to avoid national insurance arising on the last two options, you would need to ensure that the tips are not:

• paid, directly or indirectly, to the employee by you and are not monies previously paid to you by customers, or
• allocated, directly orindirectly, to the employee by you

With regards to the above rules, tips received on cards can cause a bit of a headache, but just remember that last rule. Although you will have received the tip initially and so fail the first test, provided you avoid any dealings with the allocation of them, no national insurance will arise.

Tips and troncs are not a very simple area of the tax system and there are exceptions to the rough guidelines given above. Therefore, you should seek professional advice from your local TaxAssist Accountant before making a decision.

We provide tax accountancy services in Oldham and throughout the UK. http://www.taxassist.co.uk

Employees On Jury Service

Q: One of my employees has been called for jury service. Do I have to pay them for the days they are away?

Paul, Leicester

A: There is no statutory obligation to pay unless their contract of employment says otherwise, although the individual may recover certain costs from the court.

Whilst on jury service, an employed individual can claim for travelling and subsistence costs incurred.  The amount that they receive for this is not deemed to be taxable income. The individual is also entitled to submit a claim to the court for loss of net earnings, based a maximum claim of £31.56 for a half day (up to four hours of service) and £63.12 for a full day.

The above claims cover the first ten days of service, after which the amounts in respect of loss of earnings are doubled. If you do not intend to pay the employee for their days on jury service, you will need to complete and send a Certificate of Loss of Earnings to the court. The form will be provided by HM Courts Service and must be completed for the employee to provide direct to the court on their first day of service.