As part of the Equestrian Employers Association (EEA) National Minimum Wage campaign, they are running a survey of grooms to understand the following:
- Those who are being paid the NMW and those who are not
- What grooms know about reporting employers to the HMRC for non-compliance of NMW legislation
- How grooms feel about approaching or reporting their employer
- What the barriers are to grooms calling out or reporting their employers
They are carrying out this survey as NMW compliance in the industry is getting worse, but employers are not being held accountable for their failings. Regardless of whether the failings are deliberate or not, grooms calling out their employers or reporting employers (and ex-employers) to the HMRC for investigation when they aren’t being listened to is the only way this can be changed and corrected. The HMRC have now identified the equestrian industry as one of high non-compliance and is working with both the EEA and the British Grooms Association (BGA) to drive improvement.
We would appreciate the completion of the survey by the relevant parties (ie employed grooms or yard workers) and encouraging them to complete it.
The link to the survey is here: EEA NMW Survey
The survey is running until Tuesday 27th February.