My partner broke his leg when working

BikerMooFromMars

Just to clarify, we aren’t looking to sue anyone, just after some advice on any financial support he might be able to receive.
Thanks to all the helpful comments x

General_Grant

lisyloo said:

General_Grant said:

"Working 'cash-in-hand'" isn't itself unlawful if by that you mean receiving cash for work done. 
However, the contractual relationship is important. 
Was Dom a worker for the "legitimate business" or self-employed?
Is he submitting a time-sheet or invoice?

No but it’s normally used to mean “off the books” for the purposes of not paying tax.

i think that’s what most posters inferred.

I know - and was 99.99% likely what the OP meant.

Nevertheless, if the injured party was self-employed he should have considered insurance.  And as it was at the end of doing some task, it could simply be he was not working at the time but could consider whether his own personal insurance provides some benefit for accidents.

lisyloo

General_Grant said:

lisyloo said:

General_Grant said:

"Working 'cash-in-hand'" isn't itself unlawful if by that you mean receiving cash for work done. 
However, the contractual relationship is important. 
Was Dom a worker for the "legitimate business" or self-employed?
Is he submitting a time-sheet or invoice?

No but it’s normally used to mean “off the books” for the purposes of not paying tax.

i think that’s what most posters inferred.

I know - and was 99.99% likely what the OP meant.

Nevertheless, if the injured party was self-employed he should have considered insurance.  And as it was at the end of doing some task, it could simply be he was not working at the time but could consider whether his own personal insurance provides some benefit for accidents.

All true and I’m a big proponent of financial planning, but a little harsh for a weeks work “in between” jobs. Having said that you are absolutely right it’s a consequence on not being insured.

lisyloo

BikerMooFromMars said:

Just to clarify, we aren’t looking to sue anyone, just after some advice on any financial support he might be able to receive.
Thanks to all the helpful comments x

Good clarification.
do you live together as partners? Do you work?
if so you’ll be expected (by the state) to support your partner and benefits may be means tested.
there is some info here.

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/Your-Situation/Ill-Injured-or-Disabled

one of the issues with claiming is of course the tax evasion.
they usually ask questions on claims that might bring it to light causing issues for him and the people he worked for.

BikerMooFromMars

General_Grant said:

lisyloo said:

General_Grant said:

"Working 'cash-in-hand'" isn't itself unlawful if by that you mean receiving cash for work done. 
However, the contractual relationship is important. 
Was Dom a worker for the "legitimate business" or self-employed?
Is he submitting a time-sheet or invoice?

No but it’s normally used to mean “off the books” for the purposes of not paying tax.

i think that’s what most posters inferred.

I know - and was 99.99% likely what the OP meant.

Nevertheless, if the injured party was self-employed he should have considered insurance.  And as it was at the end of doing some task, it could simply be he was not working at the time but could consider whether his own personal insurance provides some benefit for accidents.

Thanks, but unfortunately he wasn’t self employed (edit: I think!), and he was working at the time - the guy he was working with couldn’t believe it, they were almost finished for the day. But no, it wasn’t anything contracted or in writing, he isn’t self employed, he was just trying to make ends meet for a week before Christmas, then he was to be starting a new job in January.

He’s had an awful lot of bad luck the past couple of years, he was furloughed for an awful long time not receiving full pay, didn’t get bonuses at work thanks to covid, got a promotion without a pay rise, tried to set up his own business, etc. He’s been very down because of it all. But it is what it is - I’m not here for sympathy, not looking to point fingers of blame, just a bit of financial advice really if there were any routes of support we could go down.

Thanks to all the helpful advice from people. Ignoring any negative/attacking comments - don’t really need any more negativity right now to be fair.

Thanks x

elsien

Trying to post a link but phone won’t let me.
Try entitledto or turn2us for benefits calculators. 

BikerMooFromMars

Jillanddy said:

BikerMooFromMars said:

General_Grant said:

lisyloo said:

General_Grant said:

"Working 'cash-in-hand'" isn't itself unlawful if by that you mean receiving cash for work done. 
However, the contractual relationship is important. 
Was Dom a worker for the "legitimate business" or self-employed?
Is he submitting a time-sheet or invoice?

No but it’s normally used to mean “off the books” for the purposes of not paying tax.

i think that’s what most posters inferred.

I know - and was 99.99% likely what the OP meant.

Nevertheless, if the injured party was self-employed he should have considered insurance.  And as it was at the end of doing some task, it could simply be he was not working at the time but could consider whether his own personal insurance provides some benefit for accidents.

Thanks, but unfortunately he wasn’t self employed, and he was working at the time - the guy he was working with couldn’t believe it, they were almost finished for the day. But no, it wasn’t anything contracted or in writing, he isn’t self employed, he was just trying to make ends meet for a week before Christmas, then he was to be starting a new job in January.

He’s had an awful lot of bad luck the past couple of years, he was furloughed for an awful long time not receiving full pay, didn’t get bonuses at work thanks to covid, got a promotion without a pay rise, tried to set up his own business, etc. He’s been very down because of it all. But it is what it is - I’m not here for sympathy, not looking to point fingers of blame, just a bit of financial advice really if there were any routes of support we could go down.

Thanks to all the helpful advice from people. Ignoring any negative/attacking comments - don’t really need any more negativity right now to be fair.

Thanks x

Sorry but there doesn't seem to be any evidence that he was "working", as in, he had a contract of employment or any other formal agreement with this other person. So, at best, he was self-employed, in that he was not working for anyone else. And I don't think anyone was suggesting that you were looking for sympathy - but you didn't ask for "a bit of financial advice". Your query was very specific and asked whether you could claim on the insurance and "Does anyone know where we can find out if he can do this, and/or what he might be entitled to financially if so please?". So the responses were not negative or attacking, but responses to your actual question. If you ask whether you can claim against someone's insurance then of course there are going to be questions / comments about the status of the work he was allegedly undertaking, the basis upon which he was being paid and the legitimacy of the "employment". And of course all those things will impact on the likelihood of making such a claim against insurance. If you wanted general advice on benefits, then that would have elicited different responses, but you can hardly expect to ask a specific question and then get answers to entirely different questions that you didn't ask. 

You might find it useful to post a question about financial support available on the benefits board rather than here as there are people there who have great expertise on such matters. 

He did start a business to do contractual work self employed in the summer but the work he was offered fell through and he had issues with a course he paid £2.5k to complete. Not going into details here. I assume he wasn’t going to submit an invoice but I will speak to him later.

lisyloo

Perhaps you were wrong about what you posted and perhaps it would be better for everyone involved if he issued an invoice in arrears (like everyone does).

this isn’t meant to be negative but he should be aware that lots of questions get asked when claiming.
if he lies he could be in trouble.
if he tells the truth he could be in trouble.

I’d advise an invoice for the work.
as he’s broken his leg it would not be unsurprising if it was delayed.

Grumpy_chap

lisyloo said:

I’d advise an invoice for the work.
as he’s broken his leg it would not be unsurprising if it was delayed.

Regardless, it is not unheard of for a sole-trader business to raise invoices for the month retrospectively at month-end.  Those invoices raised 31st December will not be received by the Client until the first work day, so Tuesday, or later if sent by post.

Whether the Client in this case would accept an invoice may indicate the actual nature of the agreement between the OP's partner and the Client / employer.

I am not sure if the OP's partner was working as a sole-trader who is responsible for the RIDDOR notification.

lisyloo

We don’t know, but I would of thought they would be better off employing him as a trader when presumably he’s liable for his own tax & H&S.
rather than be responsible for both
it doesn’t have to more expensive for anyone (apart form the tax)
he could set a charge/rate where the company is not disadvantaged.