The Rules On Beaters

Don’t get caught out by the legalities surrounding the employment of beaters and pickers-up on your shoot this season, warn legal experts

- Strutt And Parker

Shoots who use beaters and pickers-up may need to double-check whether they are inadvertently breaching rules on minimum wages and what and when they should be reporting to the HMRC.

The rules surrounding the use of beaters are complicated, which is leading to confusion among shoot operators, including farmers running private shoots, about what they need to do to comply.

Property experts Strutt & Parker, legal advisors Michelmores and accountancy firm Saffery Champness have produced a briefing paper to help guide landowners through some of the more common potential pitfalls.

The guidance looks at the need for any lump sum daily payment to comply with the national minimum wage and national living wage, and also examines when shoots need to deduct tax and supply Real Time Information to HMRC.

Rhodri Thomas, Head of Strutt & Parker’s South-west region and an experienced shoot advisor, said: “This is a complicated issue, with one of the difficulties being that many beaters and pickers up do not view what they do as a job or employment, as they do it for pure enjoyment. However, the authorities may still class them as an employee.

“Where this is the case, the rules on minimum wages apply unless it is possible to prove to HMRC that the arrangement between the beater and the shoot meets its definition of a very casual arrangement.