In the Film and Television Industry the Inland Revenue has produced guidance about who can legitimately be freelance/self-employed which is at -
www.hmrc.gov.uk/specialist/figuidancenotes2003.pdf – so check this first and see if your particular job is on this list.
- If it is you can register as self-employed with HR Revenue and Customs and for VAT and be genuinely self-employed as long as your engagement meets the criteria on whether it can be classed as self-employed (for details of those criteria click here).
There are many factors that need to be taken into account to determine your employment status. There are some occasions when you do a job that is not on the recognised Inland Revenue list, but the Inland Revenue will class you as self-employed – for these jobs you need to get a special letter of authority from HMRC – see the guidance in the HMRC link above for details on how to do this – which you need to give to your employer.
- If you cannot be classed as self-employed you need to tell your employer this and they should not insist you are self-employed otherwise they will be breaking the law. If your employer wrongly employs you as self-employed then potentially you both could get into trouble with HMRC and the Courts. The Courts in the UK usually take the view that you cannot ‘decide’ what employment status you want; if it genuinely cannot be classed as self-employed and points towards an employee status relationship the Courts would ignore your decision and your contract would have no legal bearing.
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If you work in the UK Media Industries and have a question about this or any other topic, please e-mail us at workline@freelanceadvisor.co.uk
If you are an Employer and need ongoing professional help with any staff/freelance issues then talk to us at The HR Kiosk (click here) - a Human Resources Consultancy for small businesses – you can retain us for as much time as you need.
Please note that the advice given on this website and by our Advisors is guidance only and cannot be taken as an authoritative interpretation of the law. It can also not be seen as specific advice for individual cases. Please also note that there are differences in legislation in Northern Ireland.
