Is the company secretary an employee?

[Lewis]

Is the company secretary an employee? Background ... I provide my wife with a mobile phone because I assumed she is an employee and know that each employee can have one, but I have been told today that actually she is an officer of the company and not an employee.

I did a quick search and found a comment on another forum that says "The company secretary is as much an employee of the company as any other company officer. The Companies Act is explicit that the officers of a ltd company are employed by that company".

I have found the Companies Act online but it's way too big to go through. But a quick search reveals statements like "officers and employees" which would lead me to believe an officer is not an employee.

I pay my wife a salary for book keeping etc.. and processed a P46 for her as if she was an normal employee. Have I got it all wrong?

[Nixon Williams]

Although technically an officer of the company, if you decide to pay her a salary the process of doing this is the same with other employees, ie a P45 or P46 etc.

The only difference would be the calculation of NIC which is slightly different for directors.

Alan