Written question asked by Cheryl Gillan (Conservative) on Thursday, 12 October 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 16 October 2006. It was answered by Baroness Primarolo (Labour) on Wednesday, 18 October 2006 on behalf of the Treasury.

Funerals

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what responsibility a funeral director has in respect of the employment status of (a) organists, (b) pall bearers and (c) other suppliers of services for funerals.

Answer: Like anyone who engages workers, a funeral director must establish the correct employment status for any individuals who provide services direct to them or their client. Where there is an employer-employee relationship between the parties then the funeral director is responsible for the deduction of income tax and national insurance contributions (NICs). In the case of an organist who is provided by the church and booked by the minister, then the church administrator would be responsible for the deduction of income tax and NICs from any payments received for the organist’s services.Where the cemetery or crematorium authorities or other providers supply their own uniformed pall bearers and invoice the funeral director for those services then they would not be the employees of the funeral director and he would not be responsible for deduction of income tax and national insurance. Freelance pall bearers on the other hand would only be categorised as having no employer-employee relationship with the funeral director if they were genuinely in business on their own account. These rules may be applied to other suppliers of services for funerals.

Secondary information