Ms S Platt v Advantage Angels — 2021

The claimant, a nurse, had incorporated Stephanie Platt Ltd in 2020, but the tribunal found that in March and April 2021 she agreed with Ms Watkins of the respondent that she would contract directly as an individual and be paid through PAYE. The claimant used her own name, national insurance number and personal documentation in dealing with the respondent, and the tribunal accepted that contemporaneous emails and texts showed agreement on a £25 hourly rate, a paid break, and mileage at 20 pence per mile.

The tribunal rejected the respondent's case that the contract was with Stephanie Platt Ltd and that payment could only be made on receipt of an invoice from the company. It found that Ms Watkins had authority to agree the arrangement on behalf of the respondent, that the claimant undertook the work personally with no right of substitution, and that for each shift the claimant was a worker within section 230(3) ERA 1996 and, in context, was treated as an employee for the shifts in question. By 11 May 2021 the respondent had the information needed to pay her, but the £600 due for the two 12-hour shifts remained unpaid.

The tribunal therefore upheld the unlawful deduction from wages claim and ordered payment of £600 gross, subject to any lawful PAYE deductions. It also found that the mileage sums of £10.40 for 26 April 2021 and £20.40 for 5 May 2021 had been correctly agreed, but because mileage is excluded from wages under section 27(2)(b) ERA 1996 it could not be awarded under section 13 and was instead awarded as £30.80 damages for breach of contract. The separate claim for consequential losses, described as interest on loans, was dismissed as outside the tribunal's jurisdiction.