HMRC has always taken notice of people who, ought to be "employed" through their paymasters compared with giving their services on a "self-employed" basis. The reason being different tax procedure is applicable.  

If a beater's salary should be "earnings from employment" subsequently it needs to be governed by PAYE plus NI. This approach may be onerous pertaining to both the individual and the shoot and will attract fees and penalties if not carried out correctly. Beaters and the shoot will undoubtedly wish to stay away from this.

Basic tax demands

A Business should operate PAYE and NI in respect of all workers. This contrasts with a self-employed person that must take into account his or her tax and also NI to HMRC under Self Assessment.

PAYE can include lengthy signing up, regular payments to HMRC, processing deadlines as well as fines for wrong or overdue reporting. There will also be both equally employers and employees' National insurance contributions to administer. As a result, where doable, it isn't surprising that beater (and also the shoot) would prefer the beater always be treated as self-employed in order to avoid the demanding PAYE burden.  

HMRC would obviously prefer the majority of people today to be addressed as "employed". National insurance contributions may also be higher as well as expense claims are more restrictive for the "employed" individual.  

HMRC strategy to beaters  

Within HMRC's ongoing pursuit to squeeze the taxpayer further - the beater/shoot relationship has not yet went undetected.  

The employment status and process of remunerating a beater really should be influenced by if the individual is a 'casual beater' or perhaps not.  

A 'contract' between a casual beater and the shoot will be considered as one of service ("employment") and therefore the usual PAYE requirements must apply. Nevertheless, HMRC recognises that practical complications may occur when employers have to operate PAYE for short term arrangements on small sums. As a result HMRC have agreed that beaters can usually be treated as day-to-day casuals and income tax does not need to be deducted provided:  

i) The beater is engaged for a period of up to a day and the employment ends that day without any agreement for more work

ii) The beater is paid off in cash at the end of that day
To make sure that the employment truly does end on the same day, there can be absolutely no arrangements in place to keep the services beyond that point. But the same beater may be used by the same shoot again in the future. If there was an agreement (implied or even formal) regarding future services then this could be a 'contract' and PAYE obligations will come into power.  

It's very helpful to observe that if HMRC do evaluate a beater as being currently employed, it doesn't routinely entitle the "employed" beater to the related privileges of employment such as holiday or even sick pay. HMRC determination is only applicable for their collection regarding taxes and National insurance functions.  
An extra caveat to the above 'casual' treatment will be that it doesn't apply to NI. The employer (the shoot) will nevertheless consequently have to deduct employee's National insurance and pay employer's National insurance if the minimum National insurance threshold is surpass (£97/wk).

Additional responsibilities  

Also, any operated shoot will still be required to keep data of all paid beaters' revenue, names and addresses. Similarly beaters should keep records of income received and paid.  
As a result of specialist nature of beaters as well as many other countryside professions, seeking professional assistance is always suggested.  

Resources

The article writer knows a lot about [link] being employed by [link] Price Bailey certified as a Chartered Accountant in the year 2006 and as a Chartered Tax Adviser in 08. The author has also experience with VAT regarding shoots and has recently been successful in a case against HMRC regarding registering a local syndicate shoot for VAT purposes.