Mr C Jones v Despatch Cloud Ltd — 2025

Mr Jones brought a dispute arising from a 1 November 2023 consulting agreement between Despatch Cloud Ltd and Yortech Ltd, under which Yortech Ltd was to provide Chief Commercial Officer services for a flat fee of £65,000, payable by monthly instalments of £5,466.16. The unfair dismissal claim had already been struck out on 4 February 2025 because he did not have sufficient length of service.

At the 12 May 2025 preliminary hearing, the remaining issue was whether Mr Jones was an employee or worker for the purpose of the unpaid sums. The tribunal recorded that he accepted the contract was with Yortech Ltd, not with him personally. It considered the written terms, including the substitution clause, autonomy clause, gross invoicing and tax provisions, and the evidence about the Despatch Cloud email address, the bank account used for payment, and the later emails between the parties.

Applying the statutory definition in s.230 ERA 1996 and the authorities cited in the reasons, the tribunal found that the agreement was a genuine consultancy agreement between two limited companies, that there was no requirement for personal service, and that the respondent did not control how the claimant worked. It therefore found that Mr Jones was neither an employee nor a worker. The remaining claim was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, and the tribunal noted that Mr Jones had said the outstanding payments he sought were £8,870, but no monetary award was made.