Self-employment in UK law

Catherine Barnard; Despoina Georgiou

doi:10.18778/0208-6069.103.03

Authors

Catherine Barnard University of Cambridge, Trinity College
Despoina Georgiou University of Cambridge, Girton College

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/0208-6069.103.03

Keywords:

self-employment, employment status, United Kingdom, legal framework, social security, tax law

Abstract

The United Kingdom has noted a rapid increase in the number of self-employed persons in the last forty years. This has prompted a return to the debate on the regulation of this category of workers. What are the key characteristics of the self-employed? Are they covered by labour law and social security regulations? This chapter answers these questions by looking at the legal framework applicable to the self-employed in the UK. In section 2, the author characterizes the main tendencies regarding self-employed activity in the United Kingdom as presented in a report of the Office of National Statistics for 2020. In sections 3 and 4, she analyses the definition and the legal framework that guarantee protection applicable to the self-employed. The author places particular emphasis on the tri-partite character of the British legal system in individual employment law, which includes certain categories of self-employed in the British definition of worker. Finally, section 5 is devoted to the ever more popular phenomenon of “bogus self-employment” and the legal mechanisms designed to combat it.

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