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Category Archives: Freelancer rights
Useful bookmarks on freelance employment and tax policies
Here’s something written by Alan Lockey for Demos – “Free Radicals – Britain’s self-employed millions urgently need a new deal…” [pdf], and an IPSE’s 2017 ‘tax manifesto’ paper on “A Fairer, More Efficient Tax System” [pdf] (h/t Martin McIvor)
The Flexibility Paradox
The TUC and Working Families are hosting a launch for a book called The Flexibility Paradox by Dr Heejung Chung on Wednesday 20 April at 1400. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, flexible working has become the norm for many workers. But … Continue reading
Freelancers Make Theatre Work
Freelancers Make Theatre Work is an organisation that came into being in 2020. They did their first freelance survey in June of that year called The Big Freelancer Survey. At the time, 9000 freelancers signed up to their platform, and … Continue reading
What to do if you want to be enroled on an employer pension scheme from day one (and the employer says “no”)
Freelancers – and anyone who works short contracts of employment – may find that they lose a lot by not being auto-enrolled in pension schemes from day one. If an employer refuses your request to be put onto the auto-enrolment … Continue reading
Bectu Mental Health and Welbeing Policy published
This was an idea that came from Bectu members during the pandemic. We did a load of online sessions discussing different aspects of the question “what is wrong with ‘the freelance deal’?” and there was a repeated refrain saying “our … Continue reading
Posted in Feature film data, Film & TV industry data, Film & TV industry policy, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Health & Safety, High End TV data, Long hours, Management, Mental Health, Safe working practices, Safe working standards, Wellbeing, Work-life balance
Tagged Bectu Mental Health and Welbeing Policy
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Even more on Adrian Chiles – IBOYOA
Last week, reading about Adrian Chiles judgement, there was one thing that I read, and thought that the report had managed a bit, so i passed it over. It was something about Adrian Chiles being ‘part and parcel’ of his … Continue reading
Posted in Freelance working, Freelancer rights, IR35, Personal Service Companies, Tax
Tagged Adrian Chiles, IBOYOA, IR35
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Some holiday pay legal rulings
A few bookmarks here on claims for unpaid holiday pay. Firstly, here’s Mr G Smith v Pimlico Plumbers Ltd. Then there’s King v Sash Windows. The Smith/Pimlico Plumbers judgment makes clear that workers who have taken leave but have not … Continue reading
Atypical workers – employment status, tax status, modus operandi – some links
I’m preparing a talk on freelance contracts, and I find that looking at the way different organisations explain things is useful for a number of reasons. Firstly, their emphasis may give some insight into how they regard the issue differently … Continue reading
Flexible savings trials to bridge the freelance pensions gap
I’m going to simply cut-and-paste from the press release from Nest Insight here as I think it says everything that needs explaining well enough: Nest Insight has launched two new pilots to trial flexible savings systems that are designed to … Continue reading
Posted in Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Pensions
Tagged Freelance pensions, The Freelance Deal
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“… the self-employed remain something of an inconvenient afterthought”
There’s a useful post here from Paul Johnson of the Institute of Fiscal Studies highlighting a number of factors that leads to the conclusion that our ecoomy and employment / tax / benefits framework has been designed around an economy … Continue reading
Posted in CJRS & SEISS, Coronavirus, Economics, Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, Management, Personal Service Companies, Productivity, Welfare and benefits
Tagged IFS, Pensions, Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS), The Freelance Deal
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Being an employee v being a freelancer
A bit of fun here…. I had a few conversations with members about IR35 and the whole ’employee v self-employment’ question. I wrote a few things down and then thought this was a useful way of outlining the discussion between … Continue reading
Freelance pensions – low take-up, postponement, and the earnings trigger
Stuart Mott has a post up on the Prospect Blog about the problems around Freelance pensions, addressing the alarmingly low take-up among members and answering a few questions about how the law on auto-enrollment is applied to freelancers. It’s well … Continue reading
Posted in Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Pensions
Tagged Auto-enrolment, Earnings trigger, The Freelance Deal
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How often do Freelancers need to opt out of the pension scheme with a regular employer?
This is another of those posts that we would urge you to act upon only after having read the footnote (below). We are periodically contacted by members who work multiple short contracts for the same engager (e.g. a national broadcaster) … Continue reading
Posted in Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Pensions
Tagged Auto-enrolment, Pensions
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BECTU declares ‘biggest push’ in its history to improve freelancers’ rights
If you don’t want it from the horse’s mouth, you can get it from The Stage [£]. “BECTU has launched a new branch for theatre freelancers, which it says is the biggest push in the union’s history to improve the … Continue reading
IPSE on the Dividend Tax and NIC increases
Some light weekend reading for you: IPSE have a post up outlining how the NIC increases to pay for social care will impact freelancers, along with a view that the changes to Dividend Tax means that “Government is making it … Continue reading
Freelancers – ‘the canary in the coalmine’
From earlier this year, a useful roundup from The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (NESTA) of the policy issues governments need to bear in mind when thinking about creative freelancers. Their understanding of Creative Freelancers is as follows: The … Continue reading
The Freelance Deal: 1. Employment Rights, Tax and Pensions
This is the first draft of the policy document that has been agreed by the Tax, Employment Rights and Pensions Working Group of London Production Division (LPD) on the 7th May 2020. It is a contribution to Bectu’s proposed ‘New … Continue reading
Posted in Employment Contracts, Employment Law and Rights, Employment status, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, IR35, Long hours, Management, Pensions, Personal Service Companies, Skills & capacity, Tax, Welfare and benefits, Wellbeing, Work-life balance
Tagged The Freelance Deal
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Construction Industry Scheme (tax for the self-employed working in construction)
Plainly the Construction Industry Scheme doesn’t apply to too many Bectu members (I’d need to get advice on how it could apply to people in set construction by my early guess is that it wouldn’t), but we need to know … Continue reading
Posted in Freelance working, Freelancer rights, IR35, Tax
Tagged Construction Industry Scheme
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Freelancers’ right to covid-protective clothing
I’m sharing, word-for-word, an email I’ve received from the TUC. I’m posting it here in case any members who are freelancers, have been asked to provide their own PPE, and have felt that – as a result – they have … Continue reading
Umbrella Companies and employment rights
There have been a number of posts on this site already about Umbrella Companies, but I’ve had an enquiry about employment rights for people engaged through such a company. The Low Incomes Tax Reform Group has published a useful briefing … Continue reading
Posted in Employment status, Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Gig economy workers, IR35, Tax
Tagged Umbrella Companies
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Ban Umbrella Companies?
The TUC is calling for a ban on Umbrella Companies [pdf]. The document under that link also outlines what they define as an Umbrella Company – I’ll be reading this in some detail as I think there may be some … Continue reading
Employers minimum-wage shame list and how it affects freelancers
From an HMG press release earlier today: Today (Thursday 5 August) 191 businesses are being named for breaking the national minimum wage law. Following investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, a total of £2.1 million was found to be … Continue reading
Crib sheet from the RSA on employment statuses
You can download this here [pdf]
Expenses and tax relating to travelling to work
Further to the detailed post about expenses for the self-employed, we often get asked about what the law on tax and earnings is for your travel to and from a place of work. If you are employed by a company, … Continue reading
Posted in Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Tax
Tagged Expenses, Travel expenses, Travel time
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Payment on account – and the ‘request to pay less’
A few weeks ago, I posted about ‘payment on account‘. Just an update on this. Tom Railton has alerted me to The Telegraph’s reporting that “A million self-employed will be taxed on money they never earned. [£]” This is certainly … Continue reading
Labour proposes the creation of a single ‘worker’ status
New #ukemplaw bulletin – Labour announces policy to create a single status of ‘worker’ – https://t.co/naWdwwJ1AE — Daniel Barnett (@daniel_barnett) July 26, 2021 Keir Starmer outlines this on LabourList – here. The party has been briefing that the aim here … Continue reading
The Creative Workforce Pledge
The Creative Workforce Pledge was a campaign to target candidates who were standing to be Metro Mayors in May 2021, to call on them to “stand up for the creative workforce, to nurture local talent and invest in culture for … Continue reading
Posted in Freelance working, Freelancer rights, Wellbeing
Tagged Creative Workforce Pledge
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Lord John Hendy QC – The Status of Workers Bill.
Lord Hendy’s bill The Status of Workers Bill was introduced to the House of Lords on the 26th May 2021. It is… “A Bill to make provision for the creation of a single status for workers by amending the meaning … Continue reading
Workers reject the idea of a four-day week on lower pay
A new report from The Social Market Foundation (SMF) entitled A question of time [PDF] explores the question of the four day week. The key findings (from the exec summary) are that… Most workers – 80% – would not favour … Continue reading
TUC insecure work report
The TUC have published a special edition of their Jobs and Recovery monitor,and this time it’s focussed on Insecure Work [PDF]. From the exec summary… The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the reality of insecure work in the UK. Care workers, … Continue reading
British Copyright Council (BCC)
Bectu is a member of the British Copyright Council (BCC) The union is a bit different to most BCC members. While many of our members are very creative, and active contributors to the creation of the theatrical / artistic / … Continue reading
Unenforceable employment rights in film & TV
TUC have authored a guide to enforcing workplace rights here (it’s an MS Word doc that downloads instantly). There are two obvious ones in film & TV that we’d like to be considered in any updates. The 11-hour break between … Continue reading
Why no contracts can be an advantage in gig worker organising
Over on Brave New Europe, Robert Ovetz argues that the lack of contractual rules governing platform workers could actually be an advantage for organised gig workers, who are increasingly relying on maximum disruption of the capital accumulation process.