Employing family, young people and volunteers

Topic: Employing family, young people and volunteers

When a new employee is added to the payroll it is the employers’ responsibility to ensure they meet the employees’ rights and deduct the correct amount of tax from their salary. This includes any employees who are family members.

HMRC’s guidance is clear that if you hire family members you must:

• avoid special treatment in terms of pay, promotion and working conditions
• make sure tax and National Insurance contributions are still paid
• follow working time regulations for younger family members
• have employer’s liability insurance that covers any young family members
• check if you need to provide them with a workplace pension scheme

It is possible to employ young people if they are 13 or over but there are special rules that govern how long they can work and what jobs they can undertake. Young workers and apprentices have different minimum wage rates from adult workers for the National Minimum Wage.

There are different rules if you take on volunteers or voluntary staff, but you as the employer are responsible for health and safety and must give inductions and proper training for the ‘job’ at hand.

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