Casual Rate of Pay

[Guest lightnix]

Sorry to drag this up yet again, but you can't just say to somebody, "right you, you're self-employed". It's the terms and conditions under which you engage the services of your casuals, which decide their employment status for tax purposes, as laid down by the IR56 Regulations. Fall foul of those and you could wind up facing a very nasty arrears bill.

 

If you're calling people in to work at your premises for a pre-determined hourly rate, then the chances are that they are temporary employees, not self-employed subcontractors and the WTD will apply (for a start).

[Brian]

Without wanting to duplicate everything on the IR link that lightnix posted...

 

Employed

If you can answer yes to the following then you are probably employed...

 

*Do you yourself have to do the work rather than hire someone else to do it for you?

*Can someone tell you at any time what to do or when and how to do it?

*Are you paid by the hour,week,or month? Can you get overtime pay?

*Do you work set hours, or a given number of hours a week or month.

*Do you work on the premises of the person you work for, or at a place or places he or she decides.

 

Self-employed

If you can answer yes to the following then you are probably self-employed...

 

*Do you have the final say in how the business is run?

*Do you risk your own money in the business?

*Are you responsible for meeting the losses as well as taking the profits?

*Do you need to provide the main items of equipment you need to do your job, not just the small tools?

*Are you free to hire other people on your own terms to do the work you have taken on? Do you pay them out of your own pocket?

*Do you have to correct unsatisfactory work in your own time and at your own expense?

 

Casual, short term, temporary or part-time working

The same consideration to determine employment status will apply even if you work part-time or for a short period. Unless you can answer 'yes' to the self-employed questions you will normally be an employee.

 

The Inland Revenue will only treat you as self-employed, giving you the benefits that such status confers, if you take genuine financial risk in running the business. Financial risk is not whether or not you can called to work that week.

 

To quote from a letter from the Revenue to myself, answering a query on this very subject...

Generally speaking, where you subcontract work out to an individual who carries out all the work on their own premises, using their own equipment and who are able to engage others to carry out the work for them, it will usually mean the individuals are self-employed.

So now you can see the sort of thing the Revenue look at to decide if someone is really self-employed (and even then note the word 'usually').

[gareth]

A casual in a theatre will be called by the theatre on an hourly basis, they will be directly responsible to one of the full-time members of staff at the theatre, that member of staff will tell them what they should be doing and when they should be doing it, they will be paid an hourly rate, and their tax/NI will be deducted at source. There is no doubt whatsoever that they are employees of the theatre, and not self-employed. As such, I would have said there's no way you could argue that NMW doesn't apply to them.

[MikeR]

THats a fundamentally different definition to one I would have used for a casual worker, having not worked in theatres in living memory I can see where I am diverging from the commonly held opinion. :)

[gareth]

THats a fundamentally different definition to one I would have used for a casual worker, having not worked in theatres in living memory I can see where I am diverging from the commonly held opinion.  :)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I see what you mean, Mike. But the original post which started this thread months ago, along with the one that revived it a couple of days ago, were both from people who work in theatre venues, so my comments were made very much from a theatre point of view!

[MikeR]

I can see that, as ever I leapt in with me size 10s without clarifying terms of reference.

[Joker7]

4.60 hour

You do realise the national minimum wage is £4.85/hr???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yes we are just paid around 4/5 weeks in hand :-)

 

Thanks for you concern ...

 

Regards

Chris

http://teaup.port5.com

[Ryster]

Thought it might be interesting to revive this thread as it's now many years out of date, besides I wanted to know how our venue compares to others in the country. So please, don't be embarrassed let's get a good idea of what you / your colleagues get paid!

 

So same questions as before:

 

A) How much do you get paid as a Casual / How much does your venue pay Casuals?

A2) How often do you/they get paid, weekly/monthly/month in arrears?

 

B) What are you/they expected to do for the cash?

B2) What you/they actually do for the cash?

 

C) Is there a tiered system for New starters, Basic Skills, Well Skilled etc?

 

D) Do you think it's a fair wage for what you/they do?

 

E) Do you/they get paid overtime and if so under what conditions (after a given number of hours / before or after certain times)?

 

F) Do you/they get paid a special rate for get-outs? (TMA / automatic overtime / OT after a certain time)

 

Here is my theatres rates:

 

A) £5.90 p/h

A2) Weekly

 

B) Load/unload wagons, build set, rig lx, focus, plot, lx op, sound op, followspot op, flys, basic maintenance.

B2) As above plus other odd jobs from time to time.

 

C) No

 

D) No, it's 10p above minimum wage and we can be mixing shows with lots of mics/orchestra, plus focussing lx rigs etc.. There should be a tiered system in place for different abilities!

 

E) Paid time and a half on Sundays / bank holidays.

 

F) TMA for get-outs.

 

Hope to get a good idea of current rates if that's possible! I'm hoping for better paid casuals elsewhere since we only pay 10p over minimum wage!

[Dodgecaliber]

Wow! Im really surprised by the low wages some of us get.

 

£10 - £12 an hour cash in hand on the spot minimum 4 hours!

[paulears]

Hourly rates frequently hover around minimum wage - especially if TMA get-out rates are available. All the very casual, as in short term seasonal, crew at my venue get minimum wage and NO get-outs - just clock in, clock out!

 

If a venue is TMA, then the bosses seem to take the hourly rate, add it to the get-out and then divide it by the hours. This looks a decent sum, so where's the need to increase hourly pay which is a direct cost? My own venue -which as many know is amazinly under fundced and resourced has a policy of paying everyone minimum wage - no matter what they do, unless they are some kind of supervisor. Luckily, I'm separated from this, with one other - who they accept as a necessary cost, but one day, those days will finish, and I cannot afford to work for the pay the others gets.

 

If the boss doesn't understand what goes on, as ours doesn't, then nothing will change. Sending bar staff outside to water plants and do a bit of weeding, or get an arcade person to work in box office is fair game if they're all paid the same - although sending the cleaners into the grid to hoover was something quite scary! He'd instigated a singing in book for access to the flys and beyond, when told to by the local authority. So they all just signed the book and went up with the hoovers!

[Light-Junky]

Hello my venue is a concert hall that recieves everything so I work both stage and lighting casualy.

A) For Stage Crew I get paid £9 during the day and about £11 during the night with 30min break for 6hrs work, minimum call time 3hrs. One of my stagemanagers told me we were the cheapest paid crew in the industry but obviously not.

B1) anything even the dirty jobs that get me down like clearing up rubbished dumped by other departments. rest of the time building steel deck, setting out the chairs and sorting dressing rooms.

B2) B1

C) Is there a tiered system for Newbies, Yes they get slightly less pay for 12 shifts, No skills are required, new people should get taught by the older people.

D) It is now, we had a sort of strike a few years ago for a pay rise and taxi's for late night starts and finishes. We got £2 pay rise but no taxi's.

 

For Follow spots its a minimum 5hr call starting at £67 and goes up in bits.

For lighting mainly riging/de-rig on the ground and pay is a few more pounds.

[WooferHound]

Our house here in the USA is a union house, everyone makes the same money whether your in the union or an extra hire.

The rate right now is US $14.60 hr. with a 4 hour minimum on Load-in and 3 hour minimum on Shows and Load-out.

I'm told that our union pays one of the lowest rates of any theatrical union in the USA.

[Ross Bristo]

Hi,

 

A) 18-21 - £5.35, this goes up once you pass 21 to £6.something.

B1) The usual; unloading trucks, rigging bars, adding extra masking, running cables, roof work.

B2) As above

C) Not really. Although there are a hand full (me and 2 others) who are working to gain the experience to aid in either uni applications or future jobs so there are sound and LX training days for us to get us some better experience and have up running the sound and LX for shows (usually the smaller ones and comics).

D) Considering I've got secure care parking, a free CRB check, excellent banter and plenty useful contact that have gotten me extra work; yes!

 

E) No

F) Again, no

 

Ta,

[Bryson]

We're in Canada, but hey...

 

We pay about $19ph (about UKP11.80) for Technicians, $24ph (about UKP15) for Head Technicians - of which there is always at least one on any given call. (IE: if it's a single-man show, they're a HT.) 4-hour minimum call. We also pay a percentage in lieu of benefits and vacation - 12% for your first two pay steps, 16% thereafter.

 

The HT is the person in overall charge of the theatre during the booking. They organise the technicians, give people breaks etc etc. They're the onsite supervisor. They also look after filling in the day report, provide First Aid if required etc. And, they generally operate a sound or lighting console (or sometimes, both!) and direct the technical work. Regular technicians work under the HT and rig lights / look after onstage turnarounds etc. If a show is complex there will be multiple HTs: HT Audio, HT LX, HT stage and so on. I can't physically be present for every show, so they are my delegated representative at the events.

 

Those pay rates are also subject to raises after a certain number of hours (equivalent to working 1, 2, 3 or 4 years fulltime) so eventually the rates rise. Technicians end up on $23 after all those raises, HTs end up on $28. Public Holidays are 1.5x all day until hour 13, when it's 2x.

 

No special rates for get-outs. (Other than the regular OT rates as below.) Work is work is work, surely? (I've never understood that one, TBH...)

 

I've surveyed the going rates in the town we work in, and I think we pay well. Above average, certainly. Do I wish it could be more? Sure, but we're tied to matching union rates so I don't really have any flexibility.

 

In British Columbia, the law says that you get 1.5x for the 9th-12th hour, and 2x for all hours from 13 onwards. So that's what we do. Some places have unsociable hours enhancements, but we consider that as part of the overall wage package.

[TeeJay]

Our casuals get a starting rate of around £8.50 ph plus the additional 12% holiday pay entitlement paid roughly once a quarter (so it actually works out at a little over £9.50 ph)

 

At management discretion the hourly rate goes up to around £8.65 - for those that show a little more commitment and work skills (with holiday pay included that's around £9.70)

 

Casuals will be employed for a specific department (LX, Sound, Video, Stage, Wardrobe, Stage Management) and will be expected to undertake all duties required to load in, set up, operate and get-out a touring show (shows are normally in for a week - with a couple of longer running shows for holidays and some shorter and one day shows. Minimum call of 4 hours (excepting get-out) with minimum 30 minute break every six hours (we aim for an hour after four hours normally)

 

On shows with those indeterminable rehearsal periods, or during dark weeks, some casuals may be employed to assist on maintenance (PAT, re-laying floor, or similar) and we do also employ staff for off-site events or to assist in moving scenic items to/from stores

 

There may be some crossover with other departments but that's dependent on both the particular show and the individual skills.

 

Overtime - (this is where it gets complicated)

an additional half time on top (so time and a half) for the following: over ten hours in a working day; over 40 hours in a seven day week; on the sixth or more consecutive day; during overnight hours; for any infringement of an eleven hour break.

It is possible to have two overtime payments for the same hour (ie double time)

 

An additional time on top (so double time) for working over 60 hours in a seven day week.

 

Sundays and Bank holidays paid at a separate rate (about equivalent to time and a third)

A Sunday Flat sum one-off payment is due if the casual only works on the sunday of a week (not including the Get-Out) - slightly less than £20

A transport sum (or taxi on account) payable for any shift starting or finishing during night hours (including get-out) - slightly more than £20

Responsibility Allowance (payable to casuals who are in charge of a departmental area or who have supervisory duties) - an additional 12% of the hourly rate

Additional one-off payment for electronic recording for commercial usage per show recorded

Additional one-off payment for any performing appearance (a 'standard' scene change not included - but acting/singing/dancing or wearing a particular costume would incur this).

 

Get-Out rate is around £37 per hour, with a minimum 2.5 hour call. Recent negotiations will see this raise to match what ever the current TMA rate is in three years.

 

Union interests in the venue have waxed and waned over the years so there are some legacy agreements but on the whole we do try to reward the long, hard, lonely hours in the dark.

 

Have to say I'm with Bryson and paulear with regard to get-outs - I'd rather that the hourly rate was raised and get-outs counted as regular working hours with appropriate adjustments for long hours, unsocial hours and so on, rather than crap hourly rates and a lump sum for the last few hours of a show ... YMMV

 

Note that we do also employ casuals on a buy-out daily rate for a few tours that we are connected to - can't share the details as they are all being checked and re-written at the moment but they are (were!) comparable to freelance daily rates (although at the lower end of the scale ...) and per diems and hotels were extra and part of the package