The unusually warm weather has ushered in a summer like no other.
Summer brings with it the need for seasonal workers for many businesses, but they bring with them their own payroll challenges.
It is essential that you handle these valuable employees effectively to avoid becoming noncompliant.
What are the main payroll concerns for seasonal workers?
Many businesses struggle to classify seasonal workers properly.
Like any other employee, it is important that seasonal workers are given clearly defined contracts, though these should be time-limited.
Make sure you clearly define their work period, pay rate and employment status.
All seasonal workers must receive at least the National Living Wage (NLW) or the National Minimum Wage (NMW), depending on their age.
The current rates are:
- £12.21 for people aged 21 and over
- £10 for people aged 18 to 20
- £7.55 for people aged under 18
- £7.55 is the apprentice rate
You’ll need to keep a close eye on when your workers have their birthdays, as this is an even more common way of slipping into noncompliance.
Dealing with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is a more tedious process.
If someone turns 18 or 21 during the time they are working with you, you will need to immediately adjust their pay accordingly.
With seasonal workers, you will want to keep a clear focus on the time they spend working for you.
Given the nature of the work, it’s not uncommon for seasonal workers to work additional hours if things are busier than normal.
Likewise, if things are quieter than expected, or if the worker doesn’t show up for all their shifts, you’ll want to know about that too.
Paying a worker the wages they have earned, no more and no less, is a vital part of keeping payroll compliant and keeping your business’s finances healthy.
You also need to remember that tips and gratuities now have to be processed through payroll.
The process can be complicated for the unprepared, especially as this is the first summer since the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 was enforced, so we have a handy article prepared to guide you through it.
How can you be efficient when handling payroll for seasonal workers?
Understanding your obligations is the best way to ensure that you can stay efficient when payrolling seasonal workers.
Seasonal workers are only with you for a short time, so you need to be efficient when onboarding them.
You also don’t want to leave them hanging around waiting for their pay, so effectively offboarding them is important, too.
When a seasonal contract ends, final payslips, holiday pay and P45s should be issued by the next payroll run, as any delays risk costly penalties.
What records should you keep and for how long?
As a business, the better your record-keeping, the more you can prepare for the future.
You need to keep the payroll data of employees, even seasonal workers, on file and this should be kept along with employment agreements and contracts.
These need to be stored for at least seven years, as you do not know when they will be necessary to refer back to them.
You probably won’t give benefits to seasonal workers, but if any are given for any reason, then these need recording as well.
Seasonal workers are a valuable resource, but only when they are treated with the same considerations and respect afforded to regular workers.
We can help support you in the busy summer season to get the most out of seasonal workers without risking payroll noncompliance.
If you are looking into seasonal workers, you must expect good revenue over the summer, and we can help you maximise this opportunity.
