Self Employed...Or Not?

jcw72

I would be really grateful for any advice regarding my husband's current work contract.

My husband currently works for a small company, mainly doing electrical and installation work. He is supposedly on a Self Employed Contractor Agreement, which states that he will be available to the company for no less than 7.5 hours a day, four days a week, at such times and such locations as the company agrees - and agrees to not undertake any other work that might conflict with this. For this work he will be paid a standard days rate and will receive no other benefits (no holiday or sick pay etc.)

The contract is for one year, now almost up - and he is regularly doing well over the 7.5 hours and being sent all over the country - and all for the same standard day rate.

Am I right to think this contract is a little bit dodgy - and that he really doesn't meet the criteria to be self-employed?

I would be really grateful for any advice - they want him to sign another contract soon and I want to make sure he is able to negotiate a better deal.

ohreally

https://www.gov.uk/employment-status-indicator

https://www.gov.uk/employment-status/overview

jcw72

That's brilliant, really helpful - according to the employment status indicator, he is an employer (edited as I meant employee).

Not sure exactly what he will do/can do with that information - and whether we should be speaking to a solicitor. However, it will hopefully put him in a good position to negotiate a better contract.

His work seem to rely on him for everything at the moment - and he is working well over his contracted hours, including two days away from home last week

Thanks again

ohreally

Tbh, he sounds more like a worker...

A person is generally classed as a ‘worker’ if:
they have a contract or other arrangement to do work or services personally for a reward (your contract doesn’t have to be written)
their reward is for money or a benefit in kind, eg the promise of a contract or future work
they only have a limited right to send someone else to do the work (subcontract)
they have to turn up for work even if they don’t want to
their employer has to have work for them to do as long as the contract or arrangement lasts
they aren’t doing the work as part of their own limited company in an arrangement where the ‘employer’ is actually a customer or client

jcw72

Sorry, I meant to say the ESI says that he is an employee or worker.

He currently works for the same company for four days a week (other day he looks after our son) - he is told where, when and what work he is doing and uses a company van - and his contract is for a year and states that he is not allowed to work for anyone else, if this conflicts with his working days for his company. He definitely sounds like an employee to me

Thanks again

PlutoinCapricorn

Self-employed people usually get more than an employee doing the same job would, to compensate for lack of holiday pay.

It sounds to me as though he is being exploited, an employee in all but name, getting the worst of both worlds.

jcw72

He is actually paid less than what he has previously received as a standard day rate - so they definitely have him cheap and it also looks like he is being exploited. He was made redundant about a year ago and was initially just happy to have found similar work - however, he seems to be increasingly working more jobs and longer hours, but with no additional benefit

There is also a clause in his contract, that states he can't offer "similar services to any other company engaged in business similar or the same as that of the Company" - which would definitely seem to limit his ability to work as a self-employed person

Another_not_new_user

jcw72 wrote: »

I would be really grateful for any advice - they want him to sign another contract soon and I want to make sure he is able to negotiate a better deal.

And what do you think will happen when someone who may be an employee asks for better terms after only a year in the job? Knowing whether he is an employee or a worker is really not a lot of help in any direction - knowing that even if he is an employee they can still just sack him might be a more important thing to know.


And I must say that I agree with ohreally - this does sound like he is a contractor, and therefore a worker. Just because a company can tell him what to do and when to do it doesn't automatically make him an employee - contractors have to be given their work somehow.


But as I said, I don't see how knowing helps him - he's going to go in there and say "My one year agreement is at an end, my wife googled something that said I'm an employee anyway so I want better pay and holidays and sick pay, and if I don't get it..." Want to lay bets on making it to a year and a day?


If the work doesn't suit him, then find other work. The likeliest only thing they will change will be the name of the person they give the work to.