There are an increasing number of people who are being given an ultimatum to work on a self-employed basis or lose their job, so we’re discussing the legalities of this with employment status specialist Rebecca Seeley Harris. It is likely that an employer seeking to convert employees to self-employed are doing so to save money, however it brings several risks to the employer if the self-employment is not genuine. Rebecca talks us through several aspects of the scenario, including:
- an employer cannot arbitrarily decide that their staff are now self-employed, and there are risks to that employer if they do so
- there are also risks to the newly self-employed worker as they no longer have employment protections (such as NMW, paid holiday etc)
- the characteristics of genuine self-employment and how employment status is decided
- what action you can take if your boss is forcing you to work self-employed
If you are unsure whether you are genuinely self-employed, or if you are being forced to work as self-employed, then this episode is essential listening. It’s packed full of lots of useful advice from a leading expert, to enable you to decide what to do about your situation.
About Rebecca Seeley Harris
Rebecca is an employment status specialist, and expert in IR35, off-payroll working and in the employment and tax status of the self-employed, personal service companies and the Gig Economy. In recent years she was seconded to the Office of Tax Simplification (an independent body of HM Treasury) as a Senior Policy Adviser to advise the government on employment and tax status. Reporting direct to the Chancellor, Rebecca was part of a small team of experts who drafted the Employment Status Review 2015, she then continued for several years to advise on the review of Small Company Taxation leading on the taxation of nano companies and the self-employed.
Resources
HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) Tool
Rebecca’s book that demystifies CEST “CEST Explained” can be downloaded here
Rebecca’s Employment Status Update, subscribe here
Briefing Document “What is Working for Yourself” download here
