Working With You
The British Grooms Association is keen to listen to and work with employers to tackle the every increasing difficulties with recruitment and retention of staff.
This worrying trend is a direct threat to any equestrian business, times are changing and the BGA will support and advise YOU with any employment queries or worries.
If you are an employer and have any questions please do either contact us:
by email - info@britishgrooms.org.uk
or call - 0845 331 6039
A useful source of information is :
AC
AS (Advi
sory, Conciliation and
Arbitration Service) aim to
improve working life through better employment relations.
They provide up-to-date information, independent advice, high quality training and we work with employers and employees to solve problems and improve performance.To visit their site CLICK HERE
Contracts of Employment
Following countless requests from employers the BGA has available a
FREE standard Contract of Employment available for you to download. For more information CLICK HERE
Holiday Entitlement
It is often asked how much holiday are your staff entitled to. Your staff are entitled to holiday from the moment they start working for you by law. All employees are currently entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks times their usual working week.
This entitlement includes the 8 days of public bank holidays, however, there is no law claiming that employees are entitled to a day off on the bank holiday itself.
As an employer you must set your holiday start date of the year and finish date (this should be in your contract). If your employee has not taken all of their holiday in this period, you are not obliged to allow them to carry it over.
It can sometimes be confusing to calculate how much holiday your staff are entitled to and Business Link have created a useful Annual Leave Calculator
For more information on Holidays - CLICK HERE
Employment Status
We are aware that grooms can be employed in various ways, for example as a freelancer or as a part time or full time employee. Do you know the difference in these kinds of employment?A question we have been asked is :
I am thinking of taking on a groom to work approximately 30 hours a week. If I take on a "self employed" groom i.e. they sort out their own tax and decided whether they want to do all the hours I offer etc, do I still need a employment contract and if not, do I have any legal obligations to consider if I decide that i know longer need them?
BGA Solicitors, Morrish LLP, have answered this common query below -
The answer to the question depends on whether they are truly self-employed or not, and that will depend on the facts of the relationship, such as whether the groom will be subject to full control of the ‘employer’, required to work when asked by the ‘employer’, required to provide personal service and so on. Generally the greater freedom the groom has (such as in respect of when he or she works, whether he or she can provide a substitute, whether he or she is subject to a disciplinary procedure etc) the more likely she or he is to be self-employed.
If the groom is an employee they are entitled to written particulars of employment (such as a written contract) and protected against Unfair Dismissal, notice pay, redundancy pay and the like.
If the groom is self-employed their protection is much more limited, and the groom will not be entitled to claim Unfair Dismissal, notice pay, redundancy pay etc.
However, even if the groom is not an employee he or she may be a ‘worker’ and therefore entitled to the national minimum wage and minimum holidays.
Therefore the protection for a truly self-employed groom is much lighter than for an employee.
The HM Revenue and Customs website deals with this in detail at www.hmrc.gov.uk/employment-status.