'independent contractor' and the minimum wage

[solidgoldbullet4myvalentine]

If you work for a company as a self-employed independent contractor and are paid per task performed, is there a minimum level of pay? I have been looking into one such company and it looks to me as though it would not be physically possible to earn more than £1 per hour doing the work: would that be legal?

I think this is a common way for companies to get around the minimum wage. I've heard of companies being prosecuted for this, but it's not easy to do, afaik. CAB?

If you are self - employed, the minimum wage thing does not apply. You are not an employee, you are a business.

Practical answer - you won't get them to change their pay structure. You could get the satisfaction of reporting them. It's only worth trying to claim if you have actually been working under minimum wage.

Legal answer - if you are a home worker, you are almost certainly not a genuine self-employed contractor. There are specicial provisions in the minimum wage legislation which make it clear that you are a 'worker' (even if you are not an 'employee') and that workers get minimum wage. There are also rules about piece rates to ensure that workers paid this way get minimum wage. Let me know if you want more details on this to follow it up in some way, but see the practical answer above!

• if you are not a home worker (i.e. are working on the company site), it is also sounds unlikely, based on the scenario you have described, that you are genuinely self-employed. If it's not a home working position and you behave like an employee (set hours, instructions from a manager, etc), then you almost certainly are one!

HTH

Thanks for all the advice. I am not working for this company, just job-hunting - and actually I have now read a bit more on the company in question's website and I think I basically made an error in my speculations about how much they pay and it's actually not that bad (but will wait and see what they offer before taking any job, obviously).