Zero hours contract

[Daisymae23]

I work for a school on a zero hours contract. I fill out time sheets and am paid for the hours I work. This has worked fine for me however my tax codes are all over the place so wonder if there is a better way to do this.

my working pattern can vary but works out to around the following

• about 18 weeks a year full time - between 40-45 hours a week as it includes Saturdays
• 8 of those weeks are together May-June during the exam period. The other 10 weeks are spread throughout the year
• in the weeks that I am not full time I’m working around 10/11 hours per week
• due to school holidays - I will not get paid in April, July and August. I will work in April and August but will miss the payroll dates so will be paid in the next month

I finish my probabtion in August and would like to approach them to ask if we can somehow make this easier/simpler. Would a good idea be to look at hours worked this year and split into equal 12ths? Any over time or under time can then be managed separately?

I would suggest a contract for your minimum weekly hours, so a contract of 10 hours term time only, with overtime paid based on timesheets

Thanks - as most months would still get over time would this change my tax codes? My issue is I seem to be changing tax codes monthly!

I'd ask them for an annual hours contract based on what you have worked in your first year.

Please also remember to book holidays you are entitled to if they are not paying you for them (If they are ask them to pay in April and August perhaps?). If they are not automatically paying, Booking your holidays in July is best as you'll get the average pay for the last 12 weeks.

I do receive 12.07% holiday entitlement in my hourly rate.

yes, I’m thinking of asking for a annual hourly contract paid in equal 12ths which I can keep track of hours worked and if I were to leave would have to either pay out or be paid off.

Your tax code should stay the same regardless (unless you have a 2nd job). The first tax year you are employed you might be on a week 1 or month 1 basis where the tax is not cumulative if they don't have figures from your previous employment but it should work itself out. The only time your tax code should change is if you apply for some kind of relief (eg where you allocate part of your code to a low/non earning partner, claim uniform washing allowance or have a benefit in kind such as a company car.

ahh I do have a second job. It’s only around £200 a month …

Often when someone has a 2nd job their tax code gets split between them so they are not paying emergency tax on one job. But not always, HMRC are not consistent.

so if your income from one of your jobs is variable that might explain why if hmrc are deciphering how your code should be split.