Grooms, are you really self-employed?
The British Grooms Association has launched a survey to discover the extent of a concerning trend in the industry
THE British Grooms Association (BGA) is working to shed light on the “widespread issue” of grooms wrongly being told they are selfemployed.
The BGA has launched a survey to gain insight into the extent of employers doing so.
“We are learning far too often of grooms that are working for just one person and being told they are self-employed,” said BGA chief executive, Lucy Katan. “This is illegal and tax evasion and we need to gain statistics to discover how widespread this issue truly is.”
Ms Katan urges grooms to contact the association for advice if they are concerned or confused about their situation.
Nicole Adams, solicitor at Clarke Willmott LLP, said the risks associated with treating someone who is actually an employee or worker as selfemployed are “extremely farreaching”.
“The hirer would not have been making the correct tax deductions, may not be paying the national minimum/living wage, for which there can be a fine of £20,000 per offence, nor correctly allowing them to take paid holiday, resulting in claims for backdated holiday payments.
“The label that an organisation gives to an individual carries little weight in the employment tribunal. The tribunal will consider what is happening in practice when coming to its decision as to whether someone is employed or not, disregarding agreements that do not reflect the reality of the relationship.”
Ms Adams added that anyone engaging someone on a selfemployed basis should seek legal advice if unsure that it reflects the real nature of the relationship.
GIG ECONOMY
THIS month the government released a report recommending that companies that control and supervise their workers, rather than employees, should pay a range of benefits, including National Insurance.
Among the other issues covered by the report is ‘gig economy’ employment. The gig economy is a description for those who are paid per job rather than for the time spent working.
“In the equestrian industry, we kind of have a gig economy, in that we have some genuine freelance self-employed grooms, who run their own sole trader businesses,” said Ms Katan. “We will watch with interest the government’s actions as a result of this report, as many of the freelance grooms do take instruction and work regularly for the same person, which could result in them being the new term of a ‘dependent contractor’ and thus eligible for some employment rights.”
A Derbyshire-based groom, who wished to remain anonymous, told H&H that she believes she has been wrongly treated as self-employed for a year and a half.
She works with a company who allocates her clients each week and decides her hours.
“[My boss] charges £13 an hour plus fuel, but I don’t see any fuel money and only get paid a set rate of £8 an hour,” she said. “I pay my own tax, insurance and car, and, once I’ve done that, it’s not actually worth doing.
“I don’t want to work any more than 40 hours a week, but she says, ‘We’re busy and you need to do more’. If I am self-employed, it should be up to me how many hours I work.
“It’s tax avoidance, but she shrugs it off.”
All freelance grooms and those who have been told they are self-employed are encouraged to complete the anonymous survey www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ selfemployedgrooms.