Do you know the Employment Status of your Coaches?
When recruiting coaches it is important to consider the employment status of your coaches. There are many elements that can help an employer determine the employment status of their coach. Even if a coach claims they are self employed, this may not necessarily be the case. A coach’s employment status (regarding employed v self-employed) is established on a case-by-case basis.
A person can be both employed and self-employed at the same time. A coach may be employed while working for one organisation, but be self-employed for similar work but under different working arrangements at another.
It is important all relevant details are checked and compared against HMRC guidelines.
HMRC provides an Employment Status Indicator (ESI) service through which the status of a worker can be evaluated.
HMRC Employment Status Tool - http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/calcs/esi.htm
It is the responsibility of the organisation that will be paying the coach to use the ESI service to evaluate the employment status of that person. HMRC will not accept the opinion offered by the ESI tool when it is the coach who has inputted the details.
More information can be found on the HMRC factsheet
Other Useful information
If you are running or thinking of starting a coaching business additional help is available from the following organisations:
Business Link - government funded support and advice for businesses.
GB Sport - a specialist company that provide 'Business Essentials' and 'Marketing Essential' workshops (4hrs) specifically for coaches and sports organisations to help them comply with tax requirement.