Am I a worker, employee or self employed?

[NC172938]

I am a sole trader with a number of clients.

One of these clients has about 20 freelancers working for them. (Think creative services.) Nobody is employed, nobody receives sick or holiday pay, everybody is a contractor. You log in and select jobs from a list, complete them, then invoice the client. Everybody gets paid purely on the basis of how much work is completed, never hourly.

However, this client still insists that every "freelancer" completes a certain amount of work. Their stated minimum works out at about three hours' worth of work per week, and they are talking about doubling it. If you don't meet this minimum, you get shown the door.

This isn't usual in my industry: other clients operate on a similar "gig" basis, but you can pick and choose when you work.

This client, though, seems to cherry pick bits of different employment formats. They are happy to have everyone self employed when it means the client doesn't have to pay holiday or sick leave, but they also want everybody working on a regular schedule like an employer would. When the work was first presented to me these minimums were not mentioned.

I've looked into the distinctions between worker, employee and self employed but can't shed any light on it. Any idea what I am in the eyes of the law?

I guess that the main thing is whether you have a contract with them and what it says. Clearly an employee would have one and it would state how many hours you work and generally what times etc for what pay so get the same amount per month assuming a regular work pattern. I guess self employed could work those hours at any time of day and charge various amounts depending on the project. Also I guess if you wanted to leave an employee would have to give notice maybe 1 month or 3 months etc whereas self employed could possibly walk out or at most a week notice I would say?

It sounds like they are not getting enough work done and are responding by trying to put hours up. If you're self employed and not willing to do more I would talk to them about that and see what they say but be prepared to walk away?