Mr Martin Bell v St Catherine’s Parochial Church Council — 2022

This was a preliminary hearing held on 23 and 24 February 2022. The tribunal first dealt with the respondent’s application to strike out the claim on the basis that the wrong respondent had been named. It removed Reverend Adrian Morgan as a respondent, substituted St Catherine’s Parochial Church Council, and refused the strike-out application. It then decided the preliminary issue of whether Mr Martin Bell was an employee within section 230 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.

In reaching that conclusion, the tribunal placed significant weight on a letter from Reverend Canon Mosford dated 26 May 2021, which described the claimant’s appointment as organist and choirmaster in February 2006, his requirement to play for Sunday services, choir practices, Holy Week and Christmas services, an annual salary review, eight days’ paid holiday, separate fees for weddings, funerals and carol services, support for training costs, and responsibility for his own tax. The tribunal accepted that the claimant chose the music as part of his established role, but found that this reflected long-standing practice and his expertise rather than a lack of control by the respondent.

The tribunal found that the respondent controlled the claimant’s work, days and hours, including the services he was required to cover, and that he was paid a salary in arrears rather than a fee. It accepted that there was a limited right of substitution through a deputy organist for the eight Sundays of paid leave, but held that this did not prevent personal performance on the facts. Taking the evidence as a whole, and applying the authorities it cited, the tribunal held that the factors pointing to employment status significantly outweighed those against it and concluded that Mr Bell was an employee of the respondent. After that finding, the respondent asked for time to explore settlement on a redundancy basis and the tribunal allowed one month.