You are likely to be a worker if most of these things apply: 

• Your work is not as regular or structured as the work described for an employee.
• You don’t have guaranteed hours from the person or organisation who pays you.
• You don’t have to make yourself available for work at set times on a regular basis, (although you should do the work you agree to do).
• You’re required to personally do the work.
• You’re not carrying out the work for a client or a customer.

Workers include casual workers, people on zero hours contracts, agency workers and people working in the gig economy. We talk more about these below. 

What are your rights as a worker? 

If you are a worker, you do not have the same rights as an employee. But you do have the following rights: 

• You must be given a written statement of employment particulars that sets out your job rights and responsibilities (if employment started after 6 April 2020).
• You are entitled to the National Minimum Wage.
• You should get paid holiday leave - also called ‘statutory annual leave’.
• The organisation who pays you must give you payslips.
• You should not be unlawfully discriminated against.
• You should not be treated unfairly for working part time.
   

You might also be entitled to other rights such as Statutory Sick Pay, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Paternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay, and Shared Parental Pay. If you need to know about these rights or if you think you might be an employee, but your employer says that you're not - speak to an adviser at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) or see if you can find an adviser near you via Advicelocal. 

Agency Workers

You are likely to be an agency worker if you are hired by an employment agency, and are paid by that agency to work in a different company/workplace. 

Your contract is with the agency, who place you with a hiring organisation that you do temporary work for (sometimes known as an ‘assignment’). 

Once you are on an assignment, it will be the hiring organisation who will direct your work day-to-day.

When you get an initial offer of work from the agency, they must give you key information about the type of work it will be, the money you will be paid and the hours. Once you agree and enter into a contract for the job, you must be given a ‘written statement of employment particulars’. To read more about agency work go to Acas - agency workers.

Zero hours contracts 

There has been a huge rise in zero hour contracts over the last few years. Zero hours contracts are particularly common in shops, hospitality, and catering and food delivery, and care workplaces.

A zero hours contract does not guarantee you any work, and you do not have to accept any work. You can look for and accept work from another employer at any time if you have a zero hours contract. (New rules expected to come into force in 2027 will reform how zero hours contracts work by introducing a duty on employers to offer a guaranteed hours contract, provide reasonable notice of shifts, and pay compensation for cancelled, moved or reduced shifts.)

Your rights are those of a worker - listed above. Or, depending on how you work and what your work conditions are like you might actually be an employee, giving you more rights. If you are not sure, or you do not agree with what your employer says your employment status is, you can get help from Acas.

Gig workers 

Work in what is known as the ‘gig economy’ shares similarities with work through zero hours contracts. The main difference is that you are paid for each ‘gig’ whatever that might be. For example, if you are a delivery driver you are paid for each parcel you deliver, not by the hours you spend working. The work is very flexible but often has no security and you do not have the rights that an employee has.

You are likely to be self-employed if most of the following things apply: 

• You can choose when, how and where to work.
• You own your company or work on your own as a freelancer.
• You can hire other people.
• You use all your own equipment.
• You run a business and invoice your customers instead of being paid a wage.
• You can work for different people and charge different rates.
• You can send someone else to do the work for you.

What are your rights if you are self-employed?

You do not have the same rights as employees or workers but you do have the following rights: 

•  For your health and safety to be protected while you are working somewhere else for your client.
• Not to be discriminated against if you are engaged personally to do work for the client. 

Classed as self-employed for tax reasons

If your employer is saying that you should be classed as self-employed for tax reasons, but you think you are a worker or employee, it’s possible you may be being incorrectly asked to pay your own tax. To check what your employment status should be for tax purposes, you can use the GOV.UK online Check Employment Status for Tax (CEST) tool. 
 

Can I be a worker on a zero-hours contract?

Yes. Most people on zero-hours contracts are legally workers, meaning they are entitled to the National Minimum Wage and holiday pay.

Do workers get holiday pay?

Yes. Unlike the genuinely self-employed, workers have a legal right to paid annual leave.

What is a 'sham' self-employment contract?

This is when an employer calls you self-employed to avoid giving you rights (like holiday pay or protection from unfair dismissal) or paying employer national insurance, but in reality, they control your work like an employee. The law looks at the true nature of the relationship, not just what the contract says.

Am I an employee if I don't have a written contract?

Yes, a contract can be verbal or implied by your working relationship. You don't need a piece of paper to be an employee.

Disclaimer

The information in this guide applies to England and Wales only. The law may be different if you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland.

The law is complicated. We have simplified things in this guide. Please don’t rely on this guide as a complete statement of the law. We recommend you try and get advice from the sources we have suggested.

The cases we refer to are not always real but show a typical situation. We have included them to help you think about how to deal with your own situation.

Acknowledgements 

This guide was produced by Advicenow. We would like to thank everyone who has commented or helped with the guide including editorial teams at Thomson Reuters who kindly reviewed this updated version.

This guide was updated thanks to funding from the Ministry of Justice under the Online Support and Advice Grant.