Pay and expenses

Racing staff will receive a £19.00 overnight allowance. £16.45 of this can be paid tax free. It is not payable for days when the abroad payment is paid.

Overtime for time worked in the yard will be paid at the rate of time and one half for each hour worked over the basic 40 hours in each given week.

Racing staff who have been absent part of the week through sickness will not be required to work 40 hours before receiving overtime.

Time when a worker is travelling on the business of his employer in connection with duties carried out by the worker in the course of work is treated as working time whether or not the travelling takes place during his working hours.

(5.1) Racing staff are to be paid for time worked away from the yard outside of normal hours at the following rates: £11.44 for all racing staff regardless of age.

(5.2) Time away from the yard within the normal daily working hours is paid at the normal rate of pay.

(5.3) These payments are liable for PAYE and National Insurance deductions and should be put through the payroll.

(5.4) If locally adopted rates are used then the hourly rate paid must meet or exceed the hourly rate set out in this agreement. It is accepted that employees of yards close to racecourses are unlikely to incur meal expenses when racing at their local course and as such the daily subsistence allowance will not apply to such employees. This is likely to mainly apply to Newmarket staff with runners at Newmarket and Epsom staff with runners at Epsom.

Watch a video explanation of racing’s pool money rules for staff.

Pool money can be a huge incentive to working in racing. Unfortunately, it can also be a major source of discontentment. We have included the rules below for you to look at and a template we recommend all yards’ use. The most important issues to note are as follows:

• There must be pool money rules in place in every yard
• These rules have been agreed by the committee in the yard
• The rules are non-discriminatory
• The rules are displayed and returns are located in a visible place for a minimum of 10 days

Once returns have been sent back to Weatherbys no amendments can be made. Therefore, if you have a query or disagreement regarding pool money distribution these need to be addressed immediately as once the list has gone back to Weatherbys this cannot be changed.

PART 7 – PRIZES AND SETTLING OF ACCOUNTS – (F)115 to (F)131

(119) Distribution of money payable to stables

(119.1) Any percentage of Prize Money payable to a stable at which a horse trained shall be sent to the relevant Trainer.

(119.2) Stable employees shall decide the distribution criteria to be applied to the money.

(119.3) Payments may be made only to Persons whose names appear in the Register of Stable Employee Names as being currently employed by the Trainer or as having been in his employment during the period covered by the payment.

(119.4) A copy of the criteria must be displayed in the stable yard in a place where it can be inspected by all employees.

(119.5) Payments will be sent on four occasions in each year.

(119.6) Duplicate sheets will be sent with the payment and will include a list of all known current stable employees, together with their registration numbers in the Register of Stable Employee Names.

(119.7) A Trainer must

(119.7.1) add to the return any member of a Trainer’s staff whose name does not appear on it (including any ex-member of staff who has left his employment during the period covered by the payment and to whom a payment is to be made),

(119.7.2) complete the return by signing it, giving the date on which payment will be made (which must be between 11 and 21 days from the date of signature, inclusive) and adding the amounts that are to be paid to each individual member of staff,

(119.7.3) return one copy of it to the Authority’s Office within 21 days of the date that is shown on the sheets as the date on which the sheets were sent from The Racing Calendar Office, and

(119.7.4) display the other copy from the date the return is signed for a period of not less than 10 days in such a place in the stable yard where it can be inspected by all employees.

(119.8) Unless the Authority directs otherwise, a Trainer

(119.8.1)must make the payments as shown on the return not less than 10 days and not more than 21 days after signing and returning the sheet, and

(119.8.2) may not deduct any amount except those for income tax.

(119.9) If an employee requests the Trainer to withhold money for payment at a later date, the Trainer must take all reasonable steps to obtain a return on the money and must pay it over to the employee promptly when he leaves the Trainer’s employment.

Download Draft Pool Money Rules Template.

Trainers are recommended to assist racing staff in the purchase of working clothes such as jodhpurs and jodhpur boots if requested to do so and to arrange repayment in weekly instalments, such repayment agreement to be recorded in writing and signed by the employee.

Racing staff may be entitled to tax relief for work clothing – a form is available on the NARS website.

Skull caps and safety vests are personal protective equipment and should be provided free of charge by the employer. These items remain the property of the employer.

(9) Racing staff who go racing abroad will receive the appropriate hourly payment for time worked away from the yard in excess of their normal daily working hours at the rate specified in paragraph 6.1. These payments are liable for tax and National Insurance deductions and should be put through the payroll.

(9.1) In addition, racing staff will also receive a Racing Abroad Payment of £53.20 per day (£28.30 of this allowance can be paid tax free) for the first 14 days. After than the payment will reduce to £35.00 per day (£28.30 of which can be paid tax free).

The HMRC does not set a tax free amount for payment to staff who go abroad with their horses because expenses can vary significantly according to the country visited. However, it is agreed that provided staff are asked to make some sort of basic written claim stating the amounts they have spent, those amounts can be paid tax free by the employer, if the employer considers them to be reasonable. Receipts should be kept to support claims.

The Government National Minimum wage is taken into account and there are different minimum rates depending on age in Scales 1 – 3. Scale 4 upwards is not age related. Set out below are the minimum rates for a 40 hour week.

Please note that differing rates apply to staff who are provided with accommodation and to those who are not.

(2.1) Pay scale: The following scale is used to differentiate between roles with Minimum Pay Rates varying depending on whether accommodation is provided as part of the package:

(2.2) Minimum rates of pay: The following minimum rates of pay apply.

It is likely that within any one yard, there would be progressive differentials in pay between staff in Scales 4 to 6.

Note:

Where accommodation is provided, the employer can utilise the Government NMW accommodation offset of £69.93 per week. This is the maximum which can be deducted for accommodation where an employee is being paid at the NMW. For example, a Scale 3 employee aged 23 working 40 hours can be paid at £457.60 with an accommodation deduction of £69.93 or paid £387.67 plus free accommodation and still comply with the NMW and MOA. There is detailed guidance on deduction for accommodation on the NTF website.

Daily allowances (Monday to Saturday)

A daily subsistence allowance is to be paid to staff going racing Monday through to Saturday.

There is a tax free element to these allowances as set out below. The allowances may be paid in cash in advance to enable staff to buy refreshments but tax must be paid on the non-tax free element. The rate of daily subsistence allowance is based on the number of hours away from the yard outside of normal working hours.

Where a payment is tax free, it is also NI free.

*Note by an agreement with the HMRC the full amount of these payments (£10 and £13.50) can now be paid tax free provided the employer complies with revised HMRC requirements in place since 6^th April 2016. To meet these requirements the employer must apply to HMRC to use the racing industry bespoke payments and have a checking system to check around 10% of expense claims to ensure they are being properly incurred, namely that the employee has gone racing and incurred expenses.

The deployment of racing staff to cover designated Sunday racing fixtures and work in the yard will be determined by the trainer in consultation with the racing staff. However, where off-rota staff are asked to go racing or to cover work in the yard, it will be on a voluntary basis.

(7.1) The payment for time worked away from the yard over and above the consolidated rate shall be paid at the rate specified in paragraph 6.1 above. See paragraph 14 for compensatory time off.

(7.2) It is recognised that racing on a Sunday involves some disruption of free time. To compensate for this, racing staff who go racing on a Sunday fixture in Great Britain will receive a Sunday Racing Payment of £30.00 (note, £12 of this allowance can be paid tax free).