Lawyers are concerned that plans to clamp down on ‘bogus’ self-employment through a new test could end up having less impact than hoped.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the Labour Party conference last week that the government would close the legal “loopholes” used by employers to “define workers as self-employed when they are clearly not”.
“We will close the loopholes, we will stop the most egregious examples of bogus self-employment, and we will level the playing field for business.
“And in doing so, up to 100,000 more workers will get access to the national minimum wage and holiday pay,” he said.
Reynolds is due to set out proposals on single worker status in a consultation later this month.
Currently workers can be an employee, a worker, or self-employed. For the purposes of tax, they can either be employed or self-employed.
Government to crack down on ‘bogus’ self employment
Reports suggest new legislation could de-emphasise the “personal service” test, which asks whether the individual performs the work personally or whether they can appoint a substitute.
This is a question that has sat at the centre of a number of pivotal cases on employment status.
In 2018, for example, the High Court held that Deliveroo riders were not workers because their contracts contained a genuine substitution clause. This was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2023.
Other gig economy companies have introduced substitution clauses in contracts with drivers and...
Every couple of years, the same false stories come back. A claim that an election was rigged before a single vote was cast. An old video of violence, stripped of its date and place, presented as b...