I have been working in the same prison as a sessional tutor for four years without a contract

[MrFlick]

Hi all,

would appreciate if anyone can advise me - is it completely legal for me to work as a sessional tutor at a HMP for the last four years without the MoJ's outsourced education organisation issuing me a contract, owing to the fact that I am a sessional tutor who covers classes only a few times a week - around 6 to 8 hours weekly sometimes more?

It's just weird that after several years I still do't have a contract.

Many thanks

Hi I'm mostly bumping for you but there is some law of working in the same role for a prolonged period of time giving you employment rights. Have you asked for a contract? Are you self employed or do they pay tax and insurance?

This can be a tricky area of employment law. Do you invoice them for your work?

This story describes a similar situation I think

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/mar/08/ive-lost-my-work-and-been-ostracised-oxford-university-accused-of-failing-to-act-after-ruling-on-sham-contracts?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

What did they say when you asked them?

A "contract" isn't a single document. A written statement of main terms should have been provided to you if you are an employee, but there isn't enough information here to ascertain that you are.

You say ‘seasonal’ which implies long gaps between contracts. If as seems likely you’re en employee (rather than having your own business and invoicing them) you should have a timely contract each time, have you tried ACAS?

Actually they said sessional, which means something very different. There may or may not be gaps between pieces of work. People can also be self-employed or workers rather than employees. On this amount of information it is impossible to say.

If you:

• are not under direct supervision while working
• are responsible for sorting out your own tax and NI
• submit invoices to get paid
• don't get paid when you can't work due to sickness
• are free to say that day/time X doesn't work for you and have the work scheduled for day/time Y instead
• could theoretically send an appropriately-qualified substitute if you are unavailable

Then you are probably self-employed rather than an employee.

If you get paid via PAYE, and are under managerial supervision with minimal freedom for how and when you work then yes you could be an employee. You don't have to have been issued with a contract to start having employment rights.

You should have a "statement of psrticulars" (essentially this is what you refer to as a contract. You are entitled to one - ask.

Particulars (sorry for typo)

Or they might be a worker, neither self-employed nor an employee....

Hi all

thanks for all the replies - I am on paye so they pay my tax, NI and also I am member of teachers pension scheme. I work every week just not the same days as I only cover classes - I do all my lesson planning at home in my own time. I only get paid for the hours I teach which are always less than 12 but minimum 6 hours - during holiday periods - Easter, summer and Xmas - I tend to work more hours; around 20 hours a week.

That doesn't necessarily provide us with an answer to employment status, but assuming you are an employee and you work for an agency (you described it as an outsourced third party organisation), then I assume you must have had some form of paperwork when you started (and e-mail or letter) outlining the terms, explaining how to claim pay, timesheet systems, rates of pay etc? And that you also have communications that confirm changes to things like rates and hours? Collectively those would be the statement of main particulars, which is what the law requires, and what many people call the "contract".

You didn't answer my question - what did they say when you asked the employer?

Thanks for reply EmmaMaria,

I am not employed via agency but directly with the education provider that Ministry of Justice outsources their prison-education services. And yes, initially i was employed as a tutor on a fixed term contract from 2020-2021, but from 2022 i have employed as a 'sessional' tutor and no contract has ever been issued to me to sign or concretise my existence as an employee. The education admin team tally up hours every month which I verify and they submit to payroll. No outside agency involved. I think based on your advice I will seek out HR's advice as to why nothing that amounts to 'statement of particulars' exists for me. Thanks for your advice

Ah, sorry, I misread ‘sessional’!

It could be deliberate on their part, eg to avoid worker or employment benefits like paid annual and sick leave (separate for your status for tax purposes and the criteria can be fuzzy, the ones a PP outlined are relevant)

Based on what you have said here, I don't think they needed to - it's a bit of a grey area. The statement of written particulars has to be provided at the beginning of employment - these days by or on the first day of employment, but previously within a number of weeks (and I have now forgotten how many!). Employers don't have to update thgem though - so if things change it is not a legal requirement to issue them again. So technically it doesn't seem like your employer has done anything legally wrong.

Is there some reason why you think you need to prove that you are an employee?

Retain your payslips and P60s so you can refer back if you ever need to.

Are they treating you in any way differently/detrimentally as you are sessional rather than say 6 hous per week contracted/fixed annual hours? Do they, for example, pay you sick pay if you are absent? Do you get an hourly rate of pay comparable to other teachers? Are you paid holiday pay comparable to other teachers?

If I were you I'd join the NEU.

Hi ByQuaint,

thank you for replying. I am paid hourly and because i am a sessional tutor I do not get sick pay, nor holiday entitlement or any other permanent-employee benefits. It's okay though as I'm not after any benefits - they can keep the scraps. i am just concerend that no document exists that evidences my employment here, meaning, if any prospective employer were to seek references how do I back-up my claim of being employed here?

thanks

Now, you see, that is interesting because I had wondered about it... as far as I can tell, you are actually a contractor. Both employees and workers get holiday entitlement and entitlement to sick pay (assuming you earn enough). If you are entitled to neither that suggests that you are being treated as a contractor - effectively self-employed. The fact that you have tax and NI deductions can be a red herring - in a number of scenarios the "employer" does deduct these for contractors. That was why I assumed that you had a third party agency, and to all intents and purposes it seems that you do.

Why I find that interesting is because unless you are able to refuse work or delegate it to someone else (which is certainly not possible in the prison system) then I don't think you can legally be self-employed. But my knowledge of this is hazy as it isn't something I deal with. I believe it seems that you are employed under IR35 - which others may know more about - but this may help https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-off-payroll-working-ir35

OP doesn’t seem to be self employed or under an agency contract, she is likely to be a worker so entitled to sick pay etc

Not necessarily. Based on what they have said here I think that they are a contractor, the prison is the client of the third party organisation who provide contractors to prisons. I don't understand the full ins and outs of IR35, but contractors of this sort are common in some parts of the public sector, and the "agency" (for wont of a better description) handle tax and NI payments so, for many purposes, they don't appear much different from anyone else on payroll - but they do not qualify for sick pay or holidays/ holiday pay because they are neither classed as employees or workers. Assuming the OP is correct in that they do not get holidays / holiday pay or sick pay, then there is no other possible answer unless we are to assume that the Ministry of Justice has not checked that its agents follow employment law. I think that is very unlikely - public authorities and their agents can certainly make errors in law or judgement, but the wholesale abrogation of employment rights for government employees is exceptionally unlikely. Somebody - and in particular the unions - would have noticed.

OP - can you check your wage slips? I have to assume that if you are given holidays you are smart enough to know that! Is there anything on your wage slips that indicates holiday pay? Given you are a sessional worker with flexible hours, the only possibility is that you are paid rolled up holiday pay - but that should show as a separate line on your wage slip. If you aren't entitled to holidays or holiday pay then in the absence of the service being run so badly that they are breaking employment law left right and centre, then you are neither a worker nor an employee.

That said, if your only concern is refences . evidence of where you worked, that should not be an issue and the employing organisation should be able to confirm those.

I don’t know whether you’re employed or self employed but ad hoc sessional work in prisons is very common. The contract penalises the provider financially if they can’t cover planned classes which is why sessional tutors are used.

It’s not usual practice for prison teachers to plan in their own time or do any work at home. Plus you’ll be covering someone else’s class so there should already be a rough plan in place/learners will be at a particular point in the curriculum?

Do you work for Milton Keynes College?

If you do, it is all about MKC making profit. They will give you the absolute minimum they can get away with. They are a dreadful employer.

Thank you for replying everyone.

Just to re-confirm I am not a contractor nor do I work on behalf of agencies that supply teachers typically do. I am paid directly by the provider that MoJ outsources the education services to, and I do not receive holiday/sick pay and have never done since I commenced employment here in 2020

I receive wage directly from the provider whereupon my tax, Ni and pension are all deducted.

I looked at my last wage slip earlier and there are no such provisions for sick leave or holiday pay, so it would seem I am neither a worker nor employee - what can I possibly be then?