What is the law regarding a self-employed person employing casual labour?

[Kiki-frog]

Mr Frog is self-employed as a gardener. He works pretty much on his own, but this year his business has really taken off and he has more work than he can handle.

Some friends of ours have two teenage boys and they have asked if he can give them work during the school holidays. He certainly can and would love to do so, but is a bit worried about the legalities. Would he have to get insurance for them? What about tax and NI? Is it OK to pay cash in hand with no paperwork if it's only for a few hours here and there?

Has anyone had any experience of this and/or knows what is the best thing to do? Or is there anywhere he can go to find out?

Thanks in advance!

[Kiki-frog]

Sorry, just realised I should really have posted this under Jobs. Doh!

[Eve]

Kiki, we were just talking about one of your previous questions, the pain managment one, if you want a look.

[Maydup]

I'm afraid you have to pay minimum wage (for their age group) and PAYE these days. Yes you'll need to insure them and take responsibility for their safety. Good are the "old" days of very casual labour unless you want to take a fairly serious risk.

[buildersmate]

This is one place where you can find out some answers to Mr Frog's questions.
http://www.businessli...er?topicId=1073859176

The 'legal' answer to this question is that if you take them on as employees, you require employers' liability insurance and you also need to register the employees with HMRC and deal with their tax and NI - not that there would actually probably be enough earnings to create a liability. This sounds like (and it is) a shed-load for work for the scale of what Mr Frog is doing.

You may wish to discuss the situation with your friends (as parents) and explain that you can offer the kids work on a casual basis and explain the risks - they would be working on a casual, self-employed basis. Probably write a letter confirming this. Much would depend on trust - are they willing that you will take adequate care of their offspring? Suggest that no power tools should be operated by them. For obvious reasons I cannot recommend this route but there are probably hundreds of similar situations out there of people doing the same.

[ummmm]

Is there still a 'casual labour' part of the SA form?

[Kiki-frog]

Oh lordy, that looks grim and not what I'd hoped. I'll show that to Mr Frog when he gets in. buildersmate, you are a star, thanks. x