In our update seminar, we looked at the case of the Uber Drivers who have successfully claimed to be workers instead of self-employed. Following their successful case, Deliveroo cyclists and CitySprint couriers are now bringing claims to be recognised as workers instead of self-employed or “freelance”.

The designation of employee or worker is important as it assigns rights to the individual. An employee is entitled to a contract of employment and redundancy pay and can bring claims for unfair dismissal and other protected rights. A worker has more limited rights but these include national minimum wage, minimum rest breaks, holiday pay and sick pay.

These cases highlight the difficulties that some employers face in categorising their staff. The Employment Tribunals (and HMRC) look at a number of factors to determine whether a person is an employee, a worker, or self-employed. These factors include:

Mutual Obligations – this means that there is an obligation on the employer to provide work and an obligation on the employee/worker to do it.
Personal service – this means that the employee/ worker cannot delegate the work to someone else or arrange cover.
Exclusive service – this means that the employee/ worker cannot work elsewhere.
Control – this means that the employee/ worker must follow direct instructions or report in to supervisors rather than be left to complete projects unsupervised?
Integration into the employer’s business – e.g. does the employee/ worker have business cards and/or an email address for the employer’s business, do they wear the employer’s business uniform, do they attend the employer’s training, are they subject to the employer’s policies and procedures?
Equipment – is this provided by the employer or the person carrying out the work?
Benefits – is the employer paying sick pay, holiday pay, insurance premiums, professional memberships, etc?
Taxes – is the employee/ worker paid through PAYE? The Employment Tribunal will also take into account whether the employee/ worker has declared themselves to be self-employed to HMRC and benefitted from paying lower amounts of taxes and National Insurance contributions as a result.
In our update seminar, we looked at the case of the Uber Drivers who have successfully claimed to be workers instead of self-employed. Following their successful case, Deliveroo cyclists and CitySprint couriers are now bringing claims to be recognised as workers instead of self-employed or “freelance”.

The designation of employee or worker is important as it assigns rights to the individual. An employee is entitled to a contract of employment and redundancy pay and can bring claims for unfair dismissal and other protected rights. A worker has more limited rights but these include national minimum wage, minimum rest breaks, holiday pay and sick pay.

These cases highlight the difficulties that some employers face in categorising their staff. The Employment Tribunals (and HMRC) look at a number of factors to determine whether a person is an employee, a worker, or self-employed. These factors include:

Mutual Obligations – this means that there is an obligation on the employer to provide work and an obligation on the employee/worker to do it.
Personal service – this means that the employee/ worker cannot delegate the work to someone else or arrange cover.
Exclusive service – this means that the employee/ worker cannot work elsewhere.
Control – this means that the employee/ worker must follow direct instructions or report in to supervisors rather than be left to complete projects unsupervised?
Integration into the employer’s business – e.g. does the employee/ worker have business cards and/or an email address for the employer’s business, do they wear the employer’s business uniform, do they attend the employer’s training, are they subject to the employer’s policies and procedures?
Equipment – is this provided by the employer or the person carrying out the work?
Benefits – is the employer paying sick pay, holiday pay, insurance premiums, professional memberships, etc?
Taxes – is the employee/ worker paid through PAYE? The Employment Tribunal will also take into account whether the employee/ worker has declared themselves to be self-employed to HMRC and benefited from paying lower amounts of taxes and National Insurance contributions as a result.