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TENNISCOACHUK URGES COACHES AND CLUBS NOT TO USE LTA CONTRACT
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TENNISCOACHUK have received written confirmation from Revenue & Customs and an independent expert in employment law that the draft contract that is available to download (at the time of writing) on the LTA web site‘s Coach area is seriously flawed in terms of establishing a self-employment relationship and is likely to trigger a status investigation if it is examined during a coach’s tax inspection.
The contract has been promoted by the LTA Coach Education department as their commitment to ‘support the professionalisation of the coach (as in golf), making sure there are proper, robust coach/club contracts in place’, a direct quotation from the LTA Blueprint for British Tennis. The contract was added to the LTA web site in July 2009 and was immediately referred to Revenue and Customs and an independent employment law expert by TENNISCOACHUK following initial inspection.
The contract outlines a club-coach relationship where the club has full control of the program and the coach is paid an hourly rate for the services provided. The issues raised with the contract by the experts are as follows:
a) The substitution clause detailed in the contract is ineffective in that it gives the club the right to veto the substitute of choice.
b) The proposed control of the program and the method of payment are strong indicators of employment.
c) The level of exposure to financial risk indicated by the terms of this contract for the coach indicate an employment relationship.
Our solicitor stated: “The central issue is one of control and mutuality of obligation.An independent consultant/service provider should have complete control over how he delivers the agreed work, provided what is delivered is what he has contracted to deliver, and not be directed and controlled by the instructing party. That includes the right to have other coaches working for him if he needs to or indeed wants to make a profit in supplying such a substitute.”
we SAY
We urge coaches and clubs not to sign this type of contract and to seek independent (not LTA) legal advice if they have already done so.
The contract has been written so as to give the club the benefit of controlling the program and profiting from its success, whilst avoiding the costs, administrative burden and obligations of employing the coach - a case of having your cake and eating it.
The choice is clear - if the club runs the programme, they should employ the coach, otherwise the coach should run and control the programme as a self-employed coach, with the absolute right to employ a substitute. Either relationship is likely to satisfy the Revenue & Customs and both options ensure both parties need not fear the threat of investigation and subsequent penalties from the tax man.
We have sample contracts for these scenarios that are fair to both parties - contact the national office for further details or visit our web site at www.tenniscoachuk.com for further details.