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What other factors may be considered?

  • Integration:
    • Is the individual held out as being employed by the business by having a company email address, uniform, how would they introduce themselves to customers?
  • Exclusivity:
    • Is the contractor restricted from working for other organisations without the consent of the end user client?
  • Length of engagement:
    • Is the contractor engaged to work on a specific project for a defined period? Or are they engaged for an indefinite period with no reference to a specific task or project?
  • Pay:
    • Are there regular fixed payments or is payment on completion of specific task or commission based? Is the contractor entitled to benefits or bonuses?
  • Facilities:
    • Does the contractor provide their own equipment and materials to provide the services?
  • Financial risk:
    • Is the contractor personally responsible for any loss arising from their work in performing the services? Will they have to rectify unsatisfactory work at their own time and expense? Will they have the opportunity to profit from the success of a project?

Related FAQs

Can colleagues meet outside of work during the national lockdown?

Yes, but only for work purposes and where it is unreasonable to do so from home. Work colleagues cannot meet to socialise.

How do I reduce employment costs? Are we talking about redundancy?

The obvious option to reduce the cost of your workforce is redundancy. However, that also reduces the number of employees and therefore your capacity.

What are some other factors?

No one factor will determine status and the outcomes will differ depending on the nature of the work being carried out and the business of the end user client.

When you have carried out an assessment based on the relevant factors you can either get in touch with us to discuss further, check your answers against HMRC’s CEST tool or do both before making a final determination.

How do I avoid disputes and approach extensions of time and claims for additional payment with my Employer or Supplier?

The Construction Leadership Council (with backing from the Government) has issued practical guidance and draft pro-forma documents to enable all parties involved in the construction supply chain to enter into collaborative and open dialogue about applications for extensions of time and additional payment and to minimise potential disputes. The guidance can we downloaded here

The draft letters and notices included in the guidance have been prepared on the basis of the standard JCT Design and Build 2016 and NEC 3/4 Engineering and Construction Contract (Option A) and parties will need to make sure that they are completed/adjusted to comply with their own specific contracts.

The Cabinet Office has also issued a general statement calling on parties to contracts adversely affected by C-19 to act responsibly and fairly and to support national efforts to protect jobs and the economy.

What challenges to planning permission does the current lockdown situation present?
  • Delays in preparing and submitting applications to comply with pre-commencement conditions. In this respect there can be lengthy timescales gathering evidence to support applications to comply with pre-commencement conditions, ecology, contamination and archaeology are examples of matters which can require significant periods of survey work
  • Following on from the above the ability to get required experts on the site necessary to undertake the required survey work
  • Delays in the determination of applications to comply with pre-commencement conditions. In this respect whilst there are deemed discharge provisions/procedures concerning certain matters, the provisions cannot be used to discharge all types of conditions
  • The ability to get people on site to undertake material operations

In the circumstances, it is advisable to start considering the implementation of the planning permission early and the earlier the better. Under current legislation whilst it is possible to vary conditions, albeit potentially leading to wider issues, it is not possible to extend the life of a planning permission meaning that lawful implementation is essential to avoid the loss of that permission.

If a planning permission is lost, amongst other things it may not be granted again or may not be granted on similar terms. In the circumstances, it is advisable to seek advice given the specific facts of the case to minimise the risk of a planning permission not being lawfully implemented and expiring.