Employed?Self Employed? i dont know help

LostInCyberspace

first off hello im new here and hope this is in the correct section of the boards

im hoping somebody knows the answer to this as im very confused by it all

my girlfriend has just started an Ironing job 2weeks ago working from home
i thought this would be a great thing to happen but something really doesnt seem correct with how its set up

the "employer" dropped off a printed out peice of paper stating

"You Are Self Employed and are NOT Employed by (Company Name)

"Company Name accepts no responsability for any damage or injury whilst using any items Owned Or Supplied By (Company name here)

also has a part stating
Ironers are responsible of organising there own tax and national insurance if required

Ironers name and signature here....(signed by gf)

Address and telephone number

Date..
by signing you are accepting the conditions of above

Company Director (not signed)
Date (not dated)

when she first started it was stated the work would be between 2-4hours a day

(the morning work is dropped off at 9am has to be done by 2pm )
(the evening work has to be done by 9am the following day)

now my issue is surely if she is "Self Employed" as is claimed would she not be able to dictate the workload?
as currently the work load is dictated by this Company and she has no say on how much nor little is handed over

also if she is self employed wouldnt she be at least entitled to Minimum Wage
instead of the £4.50 per hour she seems to be getting payed from this company

there seems to be no solid contract in place and the way it seems to me she is being Employed and not self employed

she has no interactions with the "Customers" only by a name on the work that is dropped off

they pay him direct and she recieves the £4.50 per hour (regardless of the work amount)
even tho going by his prices each load of ironing that has been done makes at least £50
the workload has increased massivley the last week and im trying to find out what if any rights she has in this situation

this to me seems a very odd situation
can somebody give me any advice

marybelle01

It sounds awful (but then anything that involved ironing would sound awful to me!), but it also sounds legit. She can choose when and if she works, she can get someone else to do the ironing, she doesn't work when she is told to and she can drop out any time.

I'd suggest that if she wants to do this sort of thing and be self-employed then she could probably do better advertising her services herself. A friend of a friend does that and she charges £10 for a bag of ironing. I guess it still isn't a fortune but she has a lot more flexibility and since she actually (oddly) likes ironing, well she seems to be happy. I know I am - she does mine!

Evilm

If in fact she was employed then he wouldn't be allowed to pay her £4.50 an hour - that is below minimum wage (unless she is under 18). Self employed people do not have to be paid minimum wage however.

Most 'from home' services like this are self-employed and not a direct employee.