Employment Law - here's a sutuation for you...

declutterqueen

Hi guys,

I got a situation i'd like you experts to help me with.

My Ex husband is employed by his partner, he works 40-80 hours some weeks, his partner who is the director of the company pays him £100 a week, no matter how many hours he works, she pays herself more than this, but does not work for the company she works in a factory.
He is telling the CSA this is all he gets, but to me its plain to see whats going on, CSA are investigating him at the moment.
My questions are-

What Employment laws are being broken here? if any

What tax laws are being broken here? if any

What about national insurance?

I also think Legal aid are being fiddled too, is he committing Fraud?
All this is just so he doesnt have to pay for his children? when he was employed by a company before this he was paying £56 a week for 2 children,
Surely its not worth getting into trouble, for £56 a week, which will drop to £5 a week, as CSA can fine the company for non compliance?( fine his partner?)

your thoughts please
Should i post this on the CSA thred too?

Whoop's sorry about the spelling..wont let me change the title!

pinkshoes

It sounds like a lot of hassle and trouble to go to just to get out of paying for his own kids! Does he begrudge his kids that much? Perhaps the business isn't making much profit, so he's offering to work for just £100/week?

Do you have proof of the company turnover and profit to prove they can afford to pay him much more than this?

CIS

If he is employed then the NMW should be paid.

SueC_2

The most obvious one is that if he is working that number of hours for £100 he is earning far beneath the National Minimum Wage. But I'm not sure where you would stand trying to fight that, or if that's his battle with his employer. Which, under the circumstances, he would probably not be too keen to fight!

I don't know much about how the CSA work, but I would think that if you tell them that you disbelieve his figures then they would approach his employer for a statement of earnings. Of course, the employer could always come back saying he only works ten hours a week and the figure of £100 is correct.

So long as both he and his partner are paying the relevant tax on their earnings, I can't see any problem there. Same applies for NI.

Sorry, I don't think I've been much help.............

zppp

Looks like from a glance tax evasion. I would suggest you contact HMRC with your concerns.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tax-evasion/index.htm

Because they are a government department like the CSA, they do communicate and deal with the evasion fo CSA payments also.

Snakeeyes21

Is he a partner in the company? If he is a director the NMW doesnt apply.

Weirdlittleman

It's maybe not what you want to hear but I don't see anything illegal as such in whats going on that you could prove.

declutterqueen

Thanks for your replies, some good points raised, CSA are on to him and as the business has only been going for a few years there is no accounts yet, I guess he will fiddle it, to show he is not earning !!!!!! all, he has holidays new cars and manages to go out every weekend! so I guess at the end of the day its his kids that will go with out, life hey, funny thing!!

Thanks again x

Starrystarrynight

Sounds to me like he might be company director. The salary would keep him below the standard tax threshold. Could he also be receiving renumeration in the form of dividends?

declutterqueen

yes your prob right, .. thanks

alunharford

Workers are not under an obligation to maximise their salary.

To my knowledge, no employment laws will be being broken (minimum wage is the only potential problem

This is fine from a tax point of view (the company will pay corporation tax on the profits, and his partner will pay income tax on the dividends). He may also be a director of this company in which case this salary is totally normal (but he also needs to declare dividend income).

This arrangement is unlikely to have any impact on legal aid eligibility (the partner's income is included in an assessment).

I don't know about CSA, but I would assume they would consider the partner's income when working out how much he should pay.