Trade body: Clear up confusion over ‘bogus self-employed’

THE legal definition of selfemployment urgently requires clarity, a trade body for freelancers and contractors has warned.

While giving evidence to the review of employment practices by Matthew Taylor, head of the Royal Society of Arts, the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self Employed has called for a statutory definition to end confusion about who is and isn’t self-employed.

It said there are definitions in law for what it means to be an employee and what is means to be classified as a worker, but not for genuine self-employment.

According to IPSE, the definition should be based on four key criteria: having autonomy in work, having control over working arrangements, taking on business risk and the level of independence from clients.

Firms involved in the ‘gig economy’ are increasingly facing claims of using ‘bogus self-employment’ status to avoid costs such as sick pay, pensions and the guaranteed minimum wage.