Do you use self employed consultants or sub contractors? A tribunal has reached the decision that people working for a taxi firm Uber should be treated as employees rather than self employed

Drivers of Uber have to use their own cars and they can decide when they work and how long they work for as well. It was argued that as they have this level of independence they should be treated as self employed

However, the court decided otherwise. They argued that the drivers were put under tremendous pressure to work long hours and accept jobs when presented to them. Failure to accept the jobs would have repercussions for the drivers! So they concluded that the drivers were classified as employees rather than being self employed

What are the implications for you?

Well, if your company engages self employed consultants or sub contractors then HMRC may use this case for leverage to argue that they should treated as employees. This could have serious implications for your company on a number of different issues. For example:

• Increase costs in having to apply PAYE and National Insurance
• HR implications
• Entitlement to holiday and sick pay
• Paying the minimum wage

If you wish to discuss this further then please do hot hesitate to contact Kevin Wright at kevin@kwaccounting.com