Wages for employee

[Welshspudman]

Hello everyone. I’m looking for some advise please.. I was on the books two years ago on 9.50 a hour, after working all the hours under the sun it worked out on my overtime I was taking home 5.80 a hour after my deductions. I spoke to boss and said this ain’t fair why would I work extra to take less home! Long story short he wouldn’t agree on a overtime rate so he said why don’t I go self employed. So I agreed. Now working for 11 a hour but with this I do spraying of a million pound worth of potatoes I drive the harvester to pick these millions pounds aswell. I’m doing a very skilled job and feel I’m doing it for nothing when the boys in the back of harvester are taking home cash and works out more than me. I do have a house with the us job and do pay cheap rent. But also I have a family to feed and cars to run and feel I’m on the bread line all the time. Iv been doing spud work for years and would like to say I specialise at it! I take on a lot of responsibility as my roll the boss sits and home feet up and I’m the one in field sorting trailers boys on back of machine. When spraying the agronomist emails me list of chemicals and off I go there a lot of trust thrown at me and feel I’m not getting rewarded. There local contractors on more money than me and let’s be honest they don’t care they turn up do the work go. Any helps on what rates of pay I should be after? I’m not expecting to be rich I just want to earn a living

 

[Chae1]

I'd ask for £20 per hour, house for free. Sounds like your running the farm.

 

[Welshspudman]

I'd ask for £20 per hour, house for free. Sounds like your running the farm.

People don’t pay those wages down here.. all people do is moan down here can’t get the boys anymore. Not being funny but when wages are so poor who would want to get into farming..

 

[vantage]

@ollie989898 , what do you reckon?

 

[Bramble]

If you’re self employed you set your own rate.

At £11/hr your boss will be rubbing his hands as you will be costing him less than when you were employed. Add on 14% employers NI he was paying on top of your old £9.50, plus he hasn’t got to worry about sick pay, holiday pay, or pension contributions now you’re self employed.

You might find if you up your rate too much he just won’t use you anymore/as much, it all depends on local availability of labour and how important you think you are to the business.

As a starting point if you really are doing loads of hours how about setting your own overtime rate, say £16/17/hr for anything over 39hrs/week

 

[cotswoldcs]

I'd ask for £20 per hour, house for free. Sounds like your running the farm.

£20/hr??? 65hr week 50 weeks of year = £65,000. Oh and you think he should ask for a house as well?

 

[vantage]

£20/hr??? 65hr week 50 weeks of year = £65,000. Oh and you think he should ask for a house as well?

A case of if you don’t ask, you don’t get?!

 

[kiwi pom]

Hello everyone. I’m looking for some advise please.. I was on the books two years ago on 9.50 a hour, after working all the hours under the sun it worked out on my overtime I was taking home 5.80 a hour after my deductions. I spoke to boss and said this ain’t fair why would I work extra to take less home! Long story short he wouldn’t agree on a overtime rate so he said why don’t I go self employed. So I agreed. Now working for 11 a hour but with this I do spraying of a million pound worth of potatoes I drive the harvester to pick these millions pounds aswell. I’m doing a very skilled job and feel I’m doing it for nothing when the boys in the back of harvester are taking home cash and works out more than me. I do have a house with the us job and do pay cheap rent. But also I have a family to feed and cars to run and feel I’m on the bread line all the time. Iv been doing spud work for years and would like to say I specialise at it! I take on a lot of responsibility as my roll the boss sits and home feet up and I’m the one in field sorting trailers boys on back of machine. When spraying the agronomist emails me list of chemicals and off I go there a lot of trust thrown at me and feel I’m not getting rewarded. There local contractors on more money than me and let’s be honest they don’t care they turn up do the work go. Any helps on what rates of pay I should be after? I’m not expecting to be rich I just want to earn a living

You're fulltime and get a house with cheap rent, how can you be self employed? Not that it matters to you, your boss will get the bill.
Are you sure all your deductions were correct when you were full time and are you saying you weren't getting a higher rate for overtime?

 

[Chae1]

£20/hr??? 65hr week 50 weeks of year = £65,000. Oh and you think he should ask for a house as well?

He's spraying and organising the lifting of 1 million pounds worth of tatties.

 

[Pan mixer]

HMRC will catch up with the OP and his employer. It will be expensive for both of them. It may take a year or two but they will get there in the end.

£30 K plus a cheap house for 40 or so hours would be enough to attract some people away from other jobs here.

 

[Welshspudman]

You're fulltime and get a house with cheap rent, how can you be self employed? Not that it matters to you, your boss will get the bill.
Are you sure all your deductions were correct when you were full time and are you saying you weren't getting a higher rate for overtime?

He wouldn’t pay be a overtime rate so was a flat rate of pay.. then tax etc over like 350 hours a month that what I was taking home

 

[Welshspudman]

HMRC will catch up with the OP and his employer. It will be expensive for both of them. It may take a year or two but they will get there in the end.

£30 K plus a cheap house for 40 or so hours would be enough to attract some people away from other jobs here.

It’s not 40 hours it’s more like 400 when busy then normal week it 50 hours. And yes I would be happy if I was just a bloke turn up and drive but I’m not

 

[Chae1]

Think there was a similar thread last year with a skilled guy self employed working with potatoes wanting more money. Last I saw he was advertising for work so guess what outcome was.

@J Taylor photography

 

[stewart]

£20/hr??? 65hr week 50 weeks of year = £65,000. Oh and you think he should ask for a house as well?

Most defiantly, if he is looking after the place and doing the work he says he is it's cheap.

 

[Goweresque]

The deductions weren't the fault of the employer they're the fault of the taxman. Your marginal tax rate would be c.33%, so yes for every overtime hour you worked at £9-50 you'd be losing £3+ in tax. Plus some more if you were contributing to a workplace pension scheme. Welcome to the reality of 'progressive' taxation. Wait until you earn enough to pay 40% tax.........someone's got to pay for all the people working 20 hours a week with Universal Credit paying the rest of their wages.

To be honest given you get £8-92/hr now for flipping burgers (and thats a national rate that applies as much in the wilds of West Wales as the Home Counties) £9-50/hr is a joke for someone with your responsibility, skill set and long hours worked.

 

[tepapa]

You get close to £10/hr employed on the books stacking shelves. Why would anyone work for £11/hr self employed and take on management responsibilities?

 

[kiwi pom]

It’s not 40 hours it’s more like 400 when busy then normal week it 50 hours. And yes I would be happy if I was just a bloke turn up and drive but I’m not

It's up to you to negotiate a new rate you're happy with, if they don't agree you need to move on.
Simple as that really.
My guess is you'll be moving on.

 

[kiwi pom]

You get close to £10/hr employed on the books stacking shelves. Why would anyone work for £11/hr self employed and take on management responsibilities?

Because they can't get any more and don't want, or can't get a job in a supermarket? Plus he gets a house with cheap rent, not the case with a supermarket job.

 

[nick...]

I'd ask for £20 per hour, house for free. Sounds like your running the farm.

This,your boss is taking the p1ss
nick...

 

[ARW]

How long have you been there and when was the last time you had a pay rise?
we increase our wages annually, sometimes by say 50pence an hour or in line with inflation, then you don’t end up working for 3-4 years at a deficit from each year and then needing a £2-3 pay rise