Protecting yourself as an employer

Top things to remember:

Employment status

You need to know the difference between a self-employed, worker and an employee. You can’t ‘employ’ a self-employed person. They must have other clients throughout the year, they will dictate to you their availability, start and finish times, rate of pay and issue you with an invoice.

Employed staff must have a Written Statement of Terms, otherwise known as an employment contract, will be entitled to holiday and sick pay and must be enrolled in a PAYE and pension scheme.

Contracts

You will need to provide your employees with a Written Statement of Terms which is signed by both you and the employee. It is a legal requirement to provide one and should be issued before, or on the day that your employee begins their employment. It will include standard terms of employment, confirmation of hours, holiday entitlement and salary and is designed to protect you as an employer, as well as your employee.

Insurance and health and safety

You must have Employers Liability insurance in place and it is a legal requirement for your staff to have access to the insurance certificate, or available electronically required to display your employer’s liability insurance certificate. Public Liability insurance is not obligatory, but certainly worth considering alongside Personal Accident Insurance. Health and safety is an important part of running and yard. Risk assessments should be in place. Common sense is not enough to rely on and in fact; by completing risk assessments you may well notice potential problem areas that can easily be remedied before an accident happens.

Understanding the minimum wage

Your employees must be paid at least the minimum wage for every hour that they work. Any overtime must either be paid, OR taken as time off in leui. This can taken be at a time to suit your business, but must be given in addition to days off and holidays. It is helpful to record all of the hours that your team work to help keep on top of this, and it also acts as a record if there are ever any queries regarding the number of hours your team have worked

You will need a payroll and pensions service to ensure your employees are paying the correct amount of tax and National Insurance and paying into their pensions.

Accommodation and livery

From 1st April 2024 you are allowed to deduct a maximum of £69.93 a week from your employee if you are providing them with accommodation. Livery arrangements if often seen as a grey area, but should not be included, or deducted from wages. Instead your must have a separate written agreement detailing what is and isn’t included in the service, and this should be invoiced and paid as if they are a client.

Communication is key

It is estimated that recruiting someone new costs the equivalent of six-nine months salary, which is why ensuring that your team are happy really does pay dividends.

Research says that happy employees are 13% are more productive. When it comes to managing your team, don’t underestimate the importance of good communication. Regular meetings means that you can often iron out any small niggles.

If this all sounds a little overwhelming, there are lots of help and resources available online. The government has free advice on employing people:

https://www.gov.uk/browse/employing-people

*Correct at time of publishing, please check https://www.gov.uk/browse/employing-people for updates.

If you are looking to expand your team then get in touch.