This can be a tricky one and really depends on what the council means by
"legally". Do they mean for tax purposes or is it something to do with their
health and safety regulations.
Some councils seem to have an obsession with the self-employed. Sun Jester
is a partnership registered with the Inland Revenue. It has a separate tax
code to our individual personal ones. However I have still had to do battle
with some council accounts departments who insist that we should be on their
payroll, even for a single day's work. We dig our heels in naturally and
always end up submitting an invoice.
However, taking your enquiry "off the record" to my friendly local tax
inspector (a very useful man) there is another possibility. Some museums can
be too free with use of the term "freelancer". If the individuals only work
for one museum and work regular hours then a tax office might consider that
they were in reality casual staff rather than self-employed, and that the
museum was trying to avoid it's responsibility as an employer. This does not
seem to have a hard and fast criteria and appears to be at the discretion of
the individual tax offices, so it might be worth further enquiries.
The first step is to get the council to explain precisely which law they are
referring to.
Hope this helps,
Graham Harrison
Sun Jester Consultancy and Historical Interpretation
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jael Edwards" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2001 9:14 AM
Subject: Freelance Live Interpreters in museums
Can anyone help with a problem I am encountering with employment of
freelancer live interpreters. I currently have 4 freelance interpreters who
provide workshops on site subject to school bookings and for special events.
They invoice us on a monthly basis for the work that they have done. They
have signed a work agreement which is subject to them proving that they are
registered as self employed with Inland Revenue. This situation has recently
come under scrutiny from the local council who has told us that legally we
MUST have these people on our payroll. As I am aware that this is not the
case in some other museums I am under pressure to provide evidence and
reasoning for their status as freelancers. We are not LEA run but are a
charitable trust although we adopt local government employment laws. Can
anyone give any advice over the legal implications and the conditions that
have to be met for my live interpreters to remain freelance as they are now?
Thanks
Miss Jael Edwards
Education Officer
National Coal Mining Museum for England
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