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Hey! Happy Monday all.  Hope you all had nice weekends.

At the end of last week, I went to watch McFly, for about the 14th time I think! Me and my friend have been going since we were 15, and we love them BUT I can’t say I loved Thursday. We got absolutely soaked! Despite the weather forecast saying it would be clear and sunny, it hammered it down and we even had some hail at some point. I honestly don’t think I have ever been as wet or cold in my whole life. Thankfully my friend’s husband was on hand to pick us up early (and that just tells you how bad it must have been as I have never left a gig early.. especially a McFly one!).

I got home had a hot shower and got in bed with multiple layers, a dressing gown and even a hot water bottle and I was still shivering! I honestly think I’m still cold now (especially since football on Sunday for the kids was a similar experience in the rain). Safe to say, I think my outdoor gig days are behind me.

It was lovely to see McFly again though, and it is certainly a gig we will never forget, I’m sure we’ll be laughing about it in years to come. And seeing as we’re now on the topic of McFly.. my favourite member is Danny, favourite song would be between Surfer Babe, Red and the Heart Never Lies (the latter of which I actually walked down the aisle to at my wedding), favourite album I think I would have to say Wonderland because that was around the time I was most obsessed with them. It was around this time I even made my mum drive me to Alton Towers because they were supposed to be there at the same time filming – they were there, and we did get to see them, despite getting stuck on a cable car ride for the majority of the day!

To be honest, I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to inform you of my love of McFly, but I hope you have enjoyed my full run down and I shall now move onto the topic which you’re actually here for which is…

Bolt drivers in London “Obviously” think that they are workers and have tried to bring a claim as such in the employment tribunal. Over 12,500 drivers for the app (which is similar to Uber, who had their own employment status case in recent years – https://precepthr.com/briefing-changes-to-self-employed/ – in that it is for taxi rides), are bringing action against the company as they claim they should be treated by them as workers due to how much control Bolt has over them, which is one of the key tests for determining employment status. In this case, the drivers are claiming compensation for holiday pay and shortfalls to the national living wage.

So, when it comes to employment status, has it really got to be “All About You”, or does it have to be that someone else is actually pulling all the strings?

Now, if you were on our webinar last week with the lovely Philip, you will already be an expert on this topic, I’m sure! But briefly, there are 3 different categories of “employment status”, you can be: :

  • An employee
  • A worker, or
  • Self-employed.

And it’s important to get this right because employees have greater levels of protection in employment law terms than those who would be classed as self-employed. For example, only employees have the right to not be unfairly dismissed and the right to receive a statutory redundancy payment, but workers and self-employed individuals do not have these same rights and protections.

If you get this wrong, you may expose yourself to risks of claims in the employment tribunal and can open a whole can of worms from a taxation point of view too.

It doesn’t necessarily matter what is written down in a contract between an individual and a company when it comes to determining employment status either, the tribunal will look at the whole picture and what happens in reality.

Briefly, to be classed as employee, tribunals will look at three key features of the relationship. First, does the relationship require personal service? (I.e. can the individual providing services, send somebody else to do the work in their place?)

Second, is there mutuality of obligation? (Are you required to provide the individual with work or pay and are they obliged to accept the work?).

And finally, what is the level of control a business has over an individual? (for example who decides the how, what, when and where of how the work is performed? Do they have to wear a uniform? Are they subject to policies and procedures like the disciplinary procedure?) and also is the employee integrated into the business? (Do they present themselves as being engaged directly by the organisation or are they introduced as a consultant? Do they attend work events? Do they have the organisation’s email address?) The more control the engaging organisation has over the individual, the more likely the individual will be a worker or employee.

Now Labour have said that they intend to simplify employment status for England and Wales, but we don’t have any details yet. Of course as soon as we know more (and as soon as we get a decision in the Bolt case), we will share those with you, so make sure you are on our mailing list! And hopefully by our HR update webinar in October we will be able to get into the detail of this for you, so make sure you’re signed up! BOOK ON HERE

If there is no more “Room on the third floor” for uncertainty (ok I’ll stop with McFly puns now I’m reaching a bit with this one!), with the people you engage, then get in touch and we can certainly help you clarify the status and advise of any risk areas you may have.