Employer has told me i'm now self employed!

callansdad

Hi all,

Friend of mine was told by his employer yesterday ... 'by the way, as of last week you are self employed'.

Thats it! no information or anything, he has worked for this guy for six months .... what happens now? Can he do this?

Probably a bit far fetched but i said to him ... well the guys accepted your work for last week, why not send him an invoice for £35 an hour!

Any advice would be great peeps!

PlutoinCapricorn

This is not the first occurrence on this forum: employers certainly can't do that. It is likely that the employer wants to keep costs down by not paying Employers' National Insurance, holiday pay and sick pay.

I have only had experience of companies that operate ethically, and have HR people. It seems that there are many small businesses out there that do not operate according to the many employment laws.

It is up to the employee to decide whether or not he would like to become self employed, and HMRC have guidelines about that too. Citizens Advice are a good source of useful information when dealing with employment problems.

fengirl_2

It is actually up to HMRC to decide whether or not someone is self employed. I would ask to see the letter frm HMRC confirming that this is now a self employed position.

As Pluto says, this is a classic way for employers to avoid NIC, holiday pay, sick pay, etc...and of course yoour friend would have no emlployment rights.

callansdad

ok thanks all:D