If you’re thinking about doing any temporary work over the Christmas period to earn a bit of extra cash but you’re not sure about wages and tax here’s some useful advice.

Lady in an office wearing a Santa hat. If you're looking for temporary work over Christmas check out the jobs on offer

Your pay entitlement

If you’re employed through a recruitment agency, your contract is with the agency rather than the company you’re working for. Your recruitment agency will tell you the rate of pay for the work that you’re doing and will make sure that it’s at least the minimum wage for your age.

From 1 October 2015:

  • the adult rate increased to £6.70 per hour
    the rate for 18 to 20 year olds increased to £5.30 per hour
    the rate for 16 to 17 year olds increased to £3.87 per hour

You will get a payslip showing how much you’ve earned and how much tax you’ve paid and what tax group you’re in. Your personal tax allowance for the year will be £10,000 so you must make sure that if you stop working, you let the tax office know so that you get the tax back. And if you earn less than £153 a week, you won’t pay any national insurance.

Important information

If you are getting paid ‘cash in hand’ for temporary work and there is no record of any tax or national insurance payments, the person employing you may be breaking the law. You should also get a P45 when you leave employment, so if you don’t get one it might mean that your employer isn’t abiding by legislation.

You can find more advice on rights for agency workers on the Government’s website at www.gov.uk/agency-workers-your-rights or if you’re thinking of taking up temporary work, find out everything you need to know here.

If you’re looking for work, we have lots of temporary and permanent roles available – some with immediate starts. Take a look at the jobs we have available here or give our friendly team of industry experts a call.