Self Employed, wages not paid

geevirus

I've recently been relieved of my duties in a company that were pretty taking the mickey with the payment of wages, they only ever paid us on time for the first 4 or 5 months, They currently owe me 2 months money minus an small advance of £500, this payment was due at the beginning of June/2012 its now 22nd June 2012. It was very bad at this company having to pretty much beg for our wages every month, which I believe is against the law already.

I was self employed but working for a company for a full year upto June this year.

So I am asking for advice on what to do next to be able to claim my money that I EARNED whilst working for this company. ACAS cannot help due to the Self Employment basis.

So to sum up:
The company owes me £3000 minus the advance of £500 equating to £2500, I also lost £1964 that was paid towards a holiday for my family and I when I was unable to make the final payment due to the company not paying me on time.

I have had some people say that small claims court would be the best thing and then if its still not paid county court judgments against the company.....Is this the best way to go?

McKneff

Presumably you have copies of the unpaid invoices and details of the advance payment.

If you are self employment, they are not paying you wages, wages are for employed people, not self employed contractors.

What kidn of work is this and how often did you send them invoices.

geevirus

Thanks for answering so quickly,

On starting working for this company the one of the directors was creating my invoices for me, as I'd never been self employed before, and he would then put them through the company books. I never once sent an invoice in personally, I do however have a copy of an invoice that I have since written to send to said company, I'm an electrician by trade but spent most of my time at this company doing anything and everything around their building that involved any kind of manual labour. The invoices that a former director put in for me were monthly invoices. So SADLY I don't have any copies of previous invoices.

anamenottaken

geevirus wrote: »

Thanks for answering so quickly,

On starting working for this company the one of the directors was creating my invoices for me, as I'd never been self employed before, and he would then put them through the company books. I never once sent an invoice in personally, I do however have a copy of an invoice that I have since written to send to said company, I'm an electrician by trade but spent most of my time at this company doing anything and everything around their building that involved any kind of manual labour. The invoices that a former director put in for me were monthly invoices. So SADLY I don't have any copies of previous invoices.

Did you go into this place of work to a set time and work regular hours? Did you use their material and equipment to do the work? Did they tell you what to do and when to do which aspect of your work for them? Would you have been able to send someone else to do the work on a day that you wanted to be somewhere else?

Depending on your answers, you may well be looking for wages rather than self-employed earnings.

geevirus

anamenottaken wrote: »

Did you go into this place of work to a set time and work regular hours? Did you use their material and equipment to do the work? Did they tell you what to do and when to do which aspect of your work for them? Would you have been able to send someone else to do the work on a day that you wanted to be somewhere else?

Depending on your answers, you may well be looking for wages rather than self-employed earnings.

I was at this place of work for 40 hours per week for twelve months 9-5, awaiting a contract, uncontracted, using their materials, my own tools. they dictated every step of work that I was asked to do in their building. (Which included electrical work, painting and decorating, plumbing, building, joinery and such.

As I said above this is/was my first time in a self employed role so I'm not fully up on how it works.

McKneff

You really should have researched the self employed business before you started.
HMRC decides who is self employed and who is not.

Not the company and not you.

getmore4less

Have you registered with HMRC.

Have you been paying/saving your tax and NI.

geevirus

I've kept all my receipts and everything....although I haven't been working there for a full year, and won't now due to being told to pack my stuff and F off, Because of silly social media.

LittleVoice

geevirus wrote: »

I've kept all my receipts and everything....although I haven't been working there for a full year, and won't now due to being told to pack my stuff and F off, Because of silly social media.

You have been asked whether you have registered with HMRC as self-employed. Have you?

Being registered is about telling HMRC that you are self-employed. Keeping receipts is about running your business and being able to complete your tax return.

However, it really doesn't sound as though you are self-employed.

Contact HMRC now (well, on Monday any way).

marybelle01

geevirus wrote: »

...being told to pack my stuff and F off, Because of silly social media.

Do I detect a Facebook story coming?

If you have never registered as self-employed and haven't ever submitted an invoice (or a timesheet?) how can you prove you worked there the last two months? It seems the only evidence you have of working there is an invoice you sent after you were finished. Receipts don't prove you worked there, they prove you bought things.