In trouble with my boss... weird situation, any advice appreciated.

[Ginismedicinal]

I'm a hairdresser with 30 years experience, I'm employed in a salon and FULLY booked up til the end of November, not even room for a cut and blow dry... but, my boss sat me down yesterday to say I'm not earning her enough money, she's having to 'carry me'!
I've been here 2 years and, strangely, they charge about £40 for a full head highlights, toners and cut and blow dry!! I've NEVER worked anywhere that charges less than £90+ for a service like this.
Obviously they can't be charging enough to cover wages/overheads etc, and suddenly, out of nowhere I've been taken asside for this chat that there's not enough money coming in.
I'm the only stylist here, I open up, I close etc, just me. How am I to earn them more money if I'm fully booked up months in advance? I don't even have ANY breaks etc.
Is there something I'm missing? I'm so confused by this sudden 'problem' where the solution is in the owners control, not mine... charge more for the services! 🤦🏻‍♀️

Leave and take all your clients with you

It all seems very vague, but surely the OP could demonstrate she hadn’t been paid personally by the clients. Surely it wasn’t all cash takings?

@Ginismedicinal were you paid by bank transfer or cash?

Being self employed doesn't always mean you take cash directly from clients. You could be paid a % of the income you earn the business.
You can be self employed and be paid by bank transfer from the business.
However if you can prove you've been paid for holidays and that your wages are the same each month that would imply employment so would be provable. If you were self employed you wouldn't qualify for any holiday pay and your pay would fluctuate with how much work you did.

OP, based on your updates, you need to contact HMRC to see if any tax and NIC has been paid. You could create a Government Gateway to look at any employment info and if there is nothing on there, then contact HMRC. She will be liable not you as you have worked there for set hours and have not worrked anywhere else and have not rented a chair from here, you have been treated as employee. The whole thing is a mess.

If you have been genuinely employed then she should have provided you with a P60 every year.

Please check out your Government Gateway then ring ACAS for advice.

Sorry, I didn’t mean it as simply as that @Dwappy I’ve been self employed and transferred my business drawings to a personal bank account. Im thinking of how the ‘employer’s’ conducted herself, seemingly being careful to leave no trail. And, how she might conduct herself in future. OP’s alluded to her being the wrong sort to cross. If she’s paid the OP by bank transfer at least there’s a record of something. If she’s been careful to always pay cash, or say take it from the till, because after all, she’s not been much of a physical presence at the business, then the OP has a hard time in establishing or proving anything either way. Like she said, no contract, no payslips or P60.

It’s shortsighted and a lesson learned for the OP and leaves vulnerabilities and risk of exposure and proceedings on both sides doesn’t it.

That’s why the OP needs to clarify her tax and National Insurance situation re the last 2 years!

If her salon owner has paid her cash out of the till, or from another source, then it can’t be proved how much she has actually received.

Following on from the comment about being paid a % of the sales, HMRC frown on that as It suggests disguised employment. They now look at the nature of the work and risk taken by the self employed person. As others have said check with HMRC as you were obviously employed and she has a lot more to worry about than trying to get you to pay back money. She is also liable for providing a work place pension scheme, possibly VAT.

Why on earth have you not asked for a contract and payslips in all this time?!

I can’t believe that you’ve just sleepwalked through this. Breaching NMW by making you work longer hours, breaching Working Time regs re breaks and now potentially the whole thing has been fraudulent and she’s been defrauding HMRC (whilst you’re unable to evidence that you were employed and therefore not the defrauder).

what a mess.

Ok guys - re contracts, I did discuss contracts etc once offered the job, but she was always too busy or forgot. I now, of course, recognise this for what it is... at that point though, she seemed nice and I trusted her. Big mistake yes.
I rarely saw her, so chasing her for info, or to discuss issues/lack of breaks etc was virtually impossible.
I know how hard running a business is, I wanted to help her as much as I could - unfortunately, that leads me to the conclusion that I'm quite the naive pushover... given what's transpired.
Reflecting on all this, yes - I do feel like I've sleepwalked through this - I can only blame myself for that, I've been very foolish!

Have you checked your Government Gateway account yet?

Hi @Ginismedicinal have you got everything sorted out yet?