Mr A McGrath, Counsel For the v Respondent — 2020

At a preliminary hearing on 13 and 14 February 2020, Employment Judge Richardson decided the claimant's status. The tribunal accepted that the first Shobdon arrangement in November 2010 was temporary and, while the claimant was on benefits, had the character of a mutually convenient licence. Once benefits ceased and the respondent needed him to remain on site, the tribunal found that the relationship moved into employment rather than self-employment or limb (b) worker status.

For the porter work, the tribunal found that the claimant started in January 2011, initially at £8 per hour and later £8.50 per hour, and that the respondent's generic self-employed contract for services, introduced after he had already been paid, did not reflect the reality. The claimant provided personal service, had no genuine right of substitution, underwent slinger training and was placed on the approved drivers list, so the porter role was held to be employment under s.230(3)(a) ERA 1996 until 7 February 2012.

For the Madley night watchman role, the tribunal found that the claimant continued to work daily and was paid £1,000 per month, with free utilities, a caravan pitch, a portacabin, dog upkeep payments and other practical support. Although the 5 July 2012 contract and the annual reissued contracts used self-employed wording, the tribunal found the annual contracts for 2013 to 2018 were not reliably proved to have been signed by the claimant and, in any event, the written terms did not match the actual arrangement. Applying the Ready Mixed Concrete factors and the later authorities it cited, the tribunal concluded the claimant was an employee and not a self-employed contractor, and this preliminary judgment did not determine any monetary remedy.