Self employed issue

[Moonshild]

I have worked for the same person/company for over 25 years. When I started I was asked if I would be self employed - I wasn't very keen but at the time I was very keen to do the job. It was during the recession in the 1990's.

Over the years I have done a mixture of full and part time - due to having children. I am now divorced and although my kids are older - I have one woking and one at Uni - I am the parent who does everything for them financially.
As my job is quite physical - it is getting harder as I get older and I am now in my 50's.
I love my job BUT I don't get paid very well - he sets the amount that I get paid per hour, what I do and where/when I work.
Before lockdown my hourly rate wasn't too bad but I did bar work to boost my income. My pay was frozen during lockdown and eventually went up 1% last February.
I am really struggling but every time I broach the subject of a pay increase - he fobs me off. I have tried asking if he will employ me properly - so I get sick pay, holiday pay and have my tax etc done at source BUT he doesn't want to. He says I will be worse off.

I am trying not to be unreasonable about needing a pay increase but I'm really struggling. I need to be able to present him with what is a reasonable amount to pay me.

What do other people charge as an hourly rate for self employed?

Just for context - I get paid £10 per hour and work 35-40 hours per week depending on what work we have.

That has to cover my tax, national insurance, pension, any time off (sick or holiday), my rent, bills food etc.

I have tried looking for other work in my field but there is very little and I think my age now probably counts against me.

I desperately need advise 🙏🏻

I think you would find that you are not or at least should not be self employed and he could be in trouble for this.

You're clearly not self-employed, so he should have been paying tax, ni and pension for you. I'd maybe talk to ACAS about your situation.

You're not self employed he's just been dodging Paying tax.

Also living wage rises to 10.42 this year so you'd be better off working in a supermarket and receive employment benefits

Yes agree. I would have a word with citizens advice. Your not self employed.

Google IR35. He's in trouble.

If you only work for him, you're not self employed....he's a dodgy f*ck! If you're truly SE/freelance, you set your rate and can take on other clients

You don't sound very self employed for the purposes of tax. At £10/hr, if you're truly self employed, you should be able to increase what you charge him per hour. You should be invoicing him etc for the hours you work.

True self employment should mean you are in much more control.

www.gov.uk/employment-status/selfemployed-contractor

Self employed and contractor are not the same for the purposes of your employment.

Frankly, it sounds like he's massively taking the piss. You're barely over minimum wage (note it goes up again in April).

Time to look for a new job IMO. Screw him, you owe him nothing.

"Check employment status for tax - GOV.UK" www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

I have my rate set for me (I could charge more but it's paid by social services) I invoice 14.50 p/h and that's a low wage. Yours is incredibly low. Below minimum wage. You're not able to take holiday or sick or have/had maternity benefits. I work for 3 different families so that's why I'm self employed.

As a truly self-employed person I can state that you are not self-employed. I'm totally aghast and annoyed that your Employer has been taking advantage of you for so long. I've had a few myself, they still try it on, and I'm a tough 60 year old.

And yes, despite the stats about available jobs and loads of blah, your age does count against you when you've been doing manual work for decades and now you're in your 50s, it gets very physically knackering and not great for a CV.

Hold fast, what's been going on for the past few years is completely illegal, but yet you still need to work to pay your bills with no alternative job forthcoming.

But you need outside help to address this on your behalf, not sure where or who, wish I did (I now politely tell them to do one, although Fuck Off is still in my vocabulary). Maybe start with Citizens Advice who can then point you to the right person/organization?

Feel bad for you OP, that these employers can still get away with it.

It doesn’t sound like you are self employed and in fact sounds like you meet the criteria of being an employee. Have you paid your taxes etc over the years? If so, you would be in a position to take this employer to tribunal for failing to pay you or give you employment rights, this could work out very very expensive for him. Or he could just pay you the very reasonable £15 an hour you’re asking for….

Contact acas or you if you have home insurance with legal protection you may be able to get advice from a lawyer as part of your insurance.

You are absolutely not self employed in the eyes of HMRC.

Did you receive any maternity pay ?

He is in a very vulnerable situation. I would speak to acas and make a claim against him. He should have been paying you annual leave and pension. Take him to the cleaners.

ir35 only applies if op is working through her own Limited company not if she is self employed

HMRC employee here, status (employed or self employed) can be a bit fuzzy sometimes but you 100% should be employed.
You have no control, you have no financial risk, there is no opportunity for substitution. He would be liable for yours and his national insurance contributions for last 6 years if investigated.
This is the status indicator tool. www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax
You can print out the result.
IR35 only applies to LTD companies.

Here's the current IR35 determination tool:

www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

Xpost with Mrs Jack....

This. He's also been dodging paying sick pay, holiday pay and other obligations. Talk to ACAS.

IF35 isn't relevant if the OP isn't working through a limited company.

Apols OP - it's not known as IR35 anymore - but use the CEST (as now known) online tool to determine/advise on your employment status.

Then of course you need to check if you're in one of the Special Rules occupations (link below).

Seems now that those that do best out of employment are those that seek the best T&Cs from working, not those that are best at working at the jobs that they do.

www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-status-manual/esm4000

@MrsJackRackham What's the backlog at the moment for post ? One of the clients needs to pay his capital gains tax and is waiting on a reference number from yourselves. Thanks 🙏

There are slightly different rules for some manual occupations as a pp has said, but even so - I bet you £10 you're not self employed.

Couldn't you go and work somewhere else OP? You don't have to keep doing this and if you were getting paid holidays and sick pay I bet your health would improve massively.

You wouldn't be worse off if you were employed at that hourly rate by the way - he would be!

Thank you all - I now have more information to do something.
I invoice him weekly and pay my own tax and national insurance but it’s a struggle. I very occasionally work for other people but it is only occasionally as he makes it difficult for me to do so.
I have tried contacting the Citizens Advice and have sent several emails that I have not had replies from and tried calling but there is never any response.

I’m pretty confident that if you get proper advice you’ll find he owes you thousands and thousands of pounds. You are not self-employed. Self-employed people set their own rates and don’t need to ask for pay rises, for starters.