Urgent freelance redunancy advice needed

lul78

:eek: I don't know if anyone can help but here goes..

My partner was told on Friday that he is being made redundant and was given 30 days notice. He has freelanced for the same company for the last 3 years on a full time basis. He works at their premises and uses their eqipment, he has to get time off/holiday ok'd by his boss and is answerable to the boss at all times. He also has his work dictated to him by said boss.

The company have offered no redundancy payment but they want him to sign a very watertight confidenitality agreement so we have a little leverage. They have said that as he was not on Payeand has no contract he is entitled to nothing but as far as we can see he would be classed as one even though he pays his own tax and N.I. I called ACAS this morning and they just confused the situation more by saying that obviously we could take the company to a tribunal but that if we did so it is entirley possible that if he is then classed officially as an employee then we would more than likely be liable for a big tax bill.

I am at my wits end and frustrated, sacred and angry. We have 3 kids and basically no savings, huge debts because of partners last long period of time out of work and I only bring in £6000 p.a.

Anyone got any advice re the redunancy and if we are entitled to anything or if we do go to tribunal if we will get slapped woith a tax bill??

Many,many thanks in advance for any replies...

joedenise

Sorry but don't think he's entitled to any redundancy pay as a freelance. You say yourself he paid his own NI and tax which makes him self employed.

I used to work for a temp agency and although they paid me and I was on PAYE I was classed as self employed because I was on a 0 hours contract, ie no guarantee of work.

I think your partner is probably in the same boat as a freelance.

Denise

lul78

Many thanks anyway. I feared the worst but can't believe we're back here agian.

getmore4less

With thee years, statutory redundancy would only be £1200.


He should not need to sign anything new without a decent payment just leave.

If they wanted confidentialiy they should have put that in the contract at the begining.

McKneff

Tell him to sign nothing.

Did they pay hom holiday pay............

Its the HMRC who decide who is self employed and who is not, he would be better sounding them out too

Caroline_a

Unfortunately you can't have the benefits of being self employed and also those of being employed. You mention a big tax bill if he was classed as an employee, so I guess it depends on whether you think it would be worth challenging the self employed status in a tribunal with the resulting costs and also tax bill, versus a maximum payment of £1200 if he is classed as employed.

I would get him polishing his CV and move on, there are jobs out there, you just need to be persistent and play the numbers game - the more jobs you apply for the more likely it is you will get a job!

isplumm

Hi,

Could he be classed as a permanent member of staff as he has been there more than 2 years.

I have my company and work for a number of clients - but if I stay for more than 2 years, HMRC believe that I am a permanent member of staff for tax & expenses ....

Confused about the tax & ni - assume you have paid correct amount, so would he not be upto date?

I would see a specialist lawyer or someone similar - do you have household insurance - they might have a legal department you could talk to?

Mark

regprentice

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employment-status/index.htm#1

Most of the relevant information to help you consider your position above including an 'am i self employed' calculator

You might want to locate a salary calculator on the internet and work out roughly the Tax and NI a 'normal' person would have paid in comparison to what you have paid. You will likely find that there is a material difference between the two, and that the retrospective move to PAYE for 3 years would sting you for more than the £1200 you hope to gain in redundancy, if there isn't you haven't been doing it properly.

LittleVoice

As "self-employed" did he offset a lot of expenses against his income so that he did not pay tax or NI on those? That is where the extra tax would come in.

However, if it were deemed that he was actually an employee of the company and not self-employed, what they have paid him would be viewed as being net of tax and NI. The company would then have to account to HMRC for the tax and NI they have deducted and also pay Employers NI. The tax and NI paid as a self-employed person would then be reclaimable as they were paid in error. So any tax and NI due on expenses could be more than offset by reclaimed self-employed NI and income tax.

It's worth working out where you might stand.