Sportworks have the employment solution

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Research commissioned by sports coach UK in the south East of England suggests that 20% of coaching vacancies are deemed to be “hard to fill” positions. These tend to be part-time positions and particular difficulties are faced when recruiting for after school positions. The survey also showed that during the previous 12 months 66% of the jobs advertised were for part-time positions and only 4% for full-time positions, the remainder was for voluntary positions. Further research by sports coach UK has found that the most common reason for coaches giving up coaching is due to a lack of available paid opportunities, particularly full time positions.

One of the main reasons for such a high percentage of part-time positions is the way in which sport is funded in the UK. The funding streams which organisations can access are constantly changing and many have restrictions around how the funds can be spent. This can often limit the scope for a coaching role and may mean that a part-time position is the only option available, often for only a couple of hours per week. The outcome of this is that many coaches have a fragmented working week which can lead to disillusionment with a career in coaching and in turn weakens the drive towards professionalising coaching in the UK.

In addition to this, there is also a lack of understanding into the legal implications associated with employing people and in some cases no infrastructure to support the employment of coaches. The result of this is that many coaches are paid “cash in hand” often under the assumption that they are self-employed. This can have serious implications for the “employing” organisation if the coach is not actually registered as being self-employed.

Sportworks recognise that organisations throughout the UK face the same problems and have been working with a number of clients to address this and other issues that can arise when employing staff.

 

Sportworks Solution

Sportworks have been working with a number of School Sport Partnerships and National Governing Bodies of sport by combining their resources to create full time roles. The successful candidates are then employed on fixed term contracts of employment through Sportworks relieving our clients of all the headaches associated with employing staff.

A recent example of this is in Nottingham where the Rushcliffe and Gedling School Sport Partnerships were both looking to appoint part-time athletics coaches. England Athletics were also looking to appoint a part time Network Coaching Co-ordinator to work in the Nottinghamshire area.

Because of the unique way in which we operate we were able to combine the objectives and principle responsibilities of both SSP’s and England Athletics to offer a full-time athletics post.

 

Outcome

Applications were received from a wide variety of candidates from professional athletes to university leavers looking for a career in athletics. The successful candidate was Loughborough University graduate Gemma Hillier who showed an excellent understanding of the role. Gemma has previously been involved with Star Track athletics camps as head coach and co-ordinator and is currently one of 12 UK ambassadors for athletics giant Nike.

Sportworks now employ Gemma on behalf of the two SSP’s and England Athletics on a two year fixed term contract. The joint funding for this post is possible due to the unique way Sportworks operate, without which, the position would not exist.

 

Sportworks Role

·         Drafting job description, person specification and application pack

·         Advertising the position

·         Fielding and collating applications

·         Co-ordinating interviews

·         Drafting contract of employment

·         Employment of successful candidate

 

Testimonial

“Working with Sportworks has enabled us to employ a full time athletics coach by combining resources with Rushcliffe SSP and England Athletics. This has greatly removed all the headaches associated with employing new staff and resulted in a much higher calibre of applicant”

Andy Daniels – PDM, Gedling School Sport Partnership

 

Did you know?

  • Working for cash:
    It's illegal for your employer to pay you cash in hand without deducting tax and National Insurance contributions from your wages. However, you can accept cash payments for work you do as long as you declare this on a Self Assessment tax return, and pay Income Tax and National Insurance contributions if these are due. This will depend on your overall taxable income in the tax year.
  • If you work for yourself:
    If you're self-employed on a temporary or part-time basis you must register with HMRC as self-employed within three months of when you first start work. You'll have to complete a Self Assessment tax return and are responsible for paying your own tax and National Insurance contributions on the income you earn.
  • Implications for the Organisation:
    Organisations who make cash payments could be liable to pay the tax and NI contributions if the individual has not registered as being self-employed.

For further information about our recruitment and employment service, please contact Matthew Green on 01629 706579 or email matthew@sportworksuk.com