To follow on from what Jane Bird said..
I work both as an employee and as a  freelance self-employed trainer and
consultant, for which I have a Self-Employment Reference Number. Quoting
this on an invoice has usually been sufficient, but one local authority
queried this, and initially refused to treat the work as self-employed.
Inland Revenue were very helpful about this, and quickly faxed through the
relevant questions to me and to the museum commissioning the work. Both
parties answered these independently, Inland Revenue agreed that the work
did meet the criteria for self-employment, and wrote to the local authority
personnel department confirming this.

Although this got sorted out quickly, it was disturbing that it happenned
with work predominantly done from my home office premises, incurring
expenses which are partly set off against tax, and this being taken into
account in costings.  It was embarrassing for the museum staff, as we had
mutually agreed a freelance contract for the work. We decided the problem
was due to Inland Revenue becoming stricter about situations where employers
may potentially be using self-employment as a way of avoiding NI and
employment obligations, and this local authority in turn interpreting the
guidance very rigidly indeed.

Interestingly, the questions Inland Revenue asked revolved around control of
the work, provision of equipment, who bears the risk of financial loss,
whether the self-employed person has the opportunity to benefit from their
own sound financial management, the balance of work done for this and other
organisations, the basis of payment and whether any 'employee type' benefits
are involved, and both parties' intentions regarding employment status.
Inland Revenue website is www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk.

It did make me think that some cases where self-employment is used would not
necessarily meet these criteria, and that it's worth checking the current
practice of the central employing organisation's personnel department (for
large organisations), or checking with the payroll/ accounts person,
accountant or auditors when planning to take on freelancers.

Joan Cook
[log in to unmask]



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jane Bird" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 6:42 PM
Subject: Re: Museum Freelancers and self-employed status


We encountered this problem at Southwark Council.  Apparently someone's
current employment status is not relevant as to whether you should employ
them as self employed or not.  It is infact dependent on the job they are
doing for you. People can be both PAYE and self employed.

There is a useful leaflet on the IR website (I think it is leaflet 56) which
details a list of questions to help you decide if you should be employing
someone as PAYE or self employed.

Your council should have an Inland Revenue status officer that you can
contact who will give you help.

Hope this helps

Jane Bird


>From: Jo Kemp <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Jo Kemp <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Museum Freelancers and self-employed status
>Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 17:47:01 +0100
>
>The Inland Revenue are querying the status of our museum freelance
>educators, and stating that the City Council should employ them on PAYE,
>despite the fact that they all are registered as self-employed and all
>undertake work elsewhere (other museums, schools, community etc.).
>
>I know that it is common for museums to employ freelancers as we do, to
>deliver sessions to schools, community outreach groups, as well as general
>public events.  Has anyone else encountered this problem with the Inland
>Revenue?
>
>If you engage freelance artists/educators/sessional workers etc. I would
>really like to hear what system you use for paying them and whether you and
>they consider their status to be 'self-employed' or 'employed' by your
>museum or museum service.
>
>Many thanks.
>
>Jo Kemp
>Education & Access Manager
>Nottingham Museums & Galleries
>Tel: 0115 9153691
>Fax: 0115 9153653

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