Self employed but being treated like an employee

MamaBear5

Hi all - this is my first time on this board! I'm in a bit of a situation and just wanted to get other people's take on what my next steps should be.

I'm self employed, and have been for just over a year. In this time I've only ever worked for one client, I basically subcontract from her. She's now started employing other people (who in theory I manage). Up until now I've worked exclusively from home, last week she said I need to be in the office more and said minimum one day a week but starting in 2-3 weeks. I work at home with my son (which she is well aware and has never had an issue with!) so finding childcare in 2-3 weeks is nigh on impossible. She's also now starting to assign me KPIs and objectives and in many ways is treating me exactly the same as her employees.....apart from I'm not employed by her. I'm wary of rocking the boat but she's chosen not to employ me and to keep me self employed so am wondering if I need to remind her of that?

Pennywise

Yes, she's engaging in "scope creep" - you need to politely remind her that she engaged you self employed basis and that you have to be different to her employees. Remind her of HMRC's "employment status indicator" tool.

MamaBear5

I did look at the employment indicator and I actually tick a scary number on the employed list - particularly when it mentioned a fixed place of work! Are there ramifications for her for operating in this way?

Andy_L

MamaBear5 wrote: »

I did look at the employment indicator and I actually tick a scary number on the employed list - particularly when it mentioned a fixed place of work! Are there ramifications for her for operating in this way?

She's avoiding paying the taxman employers NI & she's avoiding paying you holiday pay, pension contributions, sick pay etc. Now if you are truly self-employed then she should be paying you more than the employed staff to make up for these things but I suspect she isn't

getmore4less

As a self employed person you have provided your terms of engagement?

When you started to have people to manage you did update your terms?

I think you need to review this relationship.
while trying to manage it so you stay engaged you need to be looking at alternatives.

steampowered

Of course, if you are self-employed, your boss is free to employ someone else.

Even if you are an employee, you could still be terminated if you have less than 2 years' service.

You are perfectly entitled to say you are not able to commit to coming into the office. But, you might be stuck if the employer insists on it.

suki1964

But can you actually be self employed when you work solely to one person/employer?

Potbellypig

MamaBear5 wrote: »

Hi all - this is my first time on this board! I'm in a bit of a situation and just wanted to get other people's take on what my next steps should be.

I'm self employed, and have been for just over a year. In this time I've only ever worked for one client, I basically subcontract from her. She's now started employing other people (who in theory I manage). Up until now I've worked exclusively from home, last week she said I need to be in the office more and said minimum one day a week but starting in 2-3 weeks. I work at home with my son (which she is well aware and has never had an issue with!) so finding childcare in 2-3 weeks is nigh on impossible. She's also now starting to assign me KPIs and objectives and in many ways is treating me exactly the same as her employees.....apart from I'm not employed by her. I'm wary of rocking the boat but she's chosen not to employ me and to keep me self employed so am wondering if I need to remind her of that?

I assume the childcare/working from home flexibility really suits your way of life. If so, there might be the need for a bit of give and take from you. Maybe not if you think you're indespensible or you can find another contract working exclusively from home. But with these situations, digging your heels in and saying no, very rarely works out well for you.

Pennywise

suki1964 wrote: »

But can you actually be self employed when you work solely to one person/employer?

Yes. It's the entire relationship which is judged. Number of "employers" is just one test of several. If other tests suggest self employment, then the number of "employers" becomes less relevant.

MamaBear5

Thank you all for your comments.

I don't plan on digging my heels in - I fully intend to play the game until I can secure something else. I do now have some other clients (I work for all of them virtually) but need to build this before taking the leap. I was just sense checking that I was justified getting annoyed by the lack of differentiation between me and her employees!

I fully plan on reviewing it but in a subtle way. I feel the working relationship is going in a direction I don't want it to and it's time to work on plan b!