By Kate Gardner, of Clarke Willmott.

 

WITH the demise of the Agricultural Wages Order (AWO) as from October 1, many agricultural and horticultural employers are considering steps to reduce sick pay, holiday entitlement and to take control of the timing of previously recurrent annual pay rises.

All such employers with this in mind should consider looking at any contracts of employment now, as if you do not effect changes in those contracts (even if they are verbal) your employees will be entitled to assume that they will continue to benefit from a compulsory annual pay rise and a continuation of all benefits they received under the AWO.

In conjunction with the NFU, the Clarke Willmott agricultural employment legal team have given a series of seminars across the region providing farmers with information on how to effect such change.

Importantly, many employers are taking the opportunity to embrace the compulsory changes to workplace pensions (auto-enrolment) at the same time.

This enables many to offer the incentive of a contributory pension scheme whilst perhaps seeking to reduce other long received benefits such as full sick pay or a generous holiday allowance.

The auto enrolment scheme affects all UK employers regardless of size, and the fines for non-compliance are substantial.

Complying with all of the new employer duties is not straightforward. We are working closely with our selected accountants to provide a “joined up” service to employers, on how to go about the introduction of this compulsory scheme and when.

Employers should consider whether staff are self employed, employed or casual or agency workers.

Even those happily accepting a ‘self employed’ title to date may in reality be ‘employed’ and entitled to join in the scheme. It is also therefore an opportune time to review your workers’ roles and their contracts of employment (if any).

If you employ casual or seasonal staff, it may be wise to set up written terms of engagement to ensure they are clear of their status and are not considered to be employees.

We can help advise you on how to get started, what changes may be necessary to your employment contracts and HR procedures and then how to implement these changes.

We can also put you in touch with a local specialist Workplace Pensions (WPP) advisor who can advise you on the relevant pension scheme for your business and how to set this up.

*If you would like a free copy of our "WPP - To Do Checklist for Employers" or our “What, who, how, where, when?” guide to auto enrolment, call Kate Gardner on 0845-2091420 or e-mail kate.gardner@clarkewillmott.com