In 2017 a large production company approached me to work for them for 6 months in return for a fixed sum payable over the term - I work from home, occasionally being summoned to meetings in London
They do not pay income tax, national insurance, holiday pay or pension contributions. They will pay any expenses I incur ie stationery.
I do not run a company but they expect me to give them invoices, I declare the income on my annual tax returns
They offered me this position as they knew I had managerial experience in this field years previously prior to taking a sabbatical to look after my dying father
I worked for them in 2017 and 2018 (June to December).
At the outset in 2017 they sent me a Letter of Engagement which detailed what they wanted from me and what they would reimburse in return.
I signed this and they rolled it over again in 2018 and again in January 2019.
However it has now been brought to my attention that the hours I have to work see me reimbursed at considerably less than minimum wage if I were an employee.
Prior to my fathers death I had not worried about this, but now I am married, I realise I am being abused by this company. They have not been prepared to increase the amount paid from the outset.
They refer to the agreement between us as their "Letter of Engagement" to myself.
There are no dispute or break clauses within. I question whether I should have had some form of contract as opposed to this letter.
I now question the legality of them legally enforcing this document as it is not a Contract of Employment which surely they should have issued to me because they are dictating to myself when work has to be completed by - my subsequent enquiries
have suggested that Letters of Engagement are infact what companies use to prospective clients NOT workers / self employed people working for them.
I am looking for advice as to how to proceed, as I have identified that they are reimbursing me at less than 25 percent of what it would cost if they went out into the marketplace to recruit an employee, as particularly in the last 3 months of the period it is literally 80 hours of week intensive each week. With my husbands health failing, I do not feel agreeable to working such intensive hours for a company like this anymore.
They do not pay income tax, national insurance, holiday pay or pension contributions. They will pay any expenses I incur ie stationery.
I do not run a company but they expect me to give them invoices, I declare the income on my annual tax returns
They offered me this position as they knew I had managerial experience in this field years previously prior to taking a sabbatical to look after my dying father
I worked for them in 2017 and 2018 (June to December).
At the outset in 2017 they sent me a Letter of Engagement which detailed what they wanted from me and what they would reimburse in return.
I signed this and they rolled it over again in 2018 and again in January 2019.
However it has now been brought to my attention that the hours I have to work see me reimbursed at considerably less than minimum wage if I were an employee.
Prior to my fathers death I had not worried about this, but now I am married, I realise I am being abused by this company. They have not been prepared to increase the amount paid from the outset.
They refer to the agreement between us as their "Letter of Engagement" to myself.
There are no dispute or break clauses within. I question whether I should have had some form of contract as opposed to this letter.
I now question the legality of them legally enforcing this document as it is not a Contract of Employment which surely they should have issued to me because they are dictating to myself when work has to be completed by - my subsequent enquiries
have suggested that Letters of Engagement are infact what companies use to prospective clients NOT workers / self employed people working for them.
I am looking for advice as to how to proceed, as I have identified that they are reimbursing me at less than 25 percent of what it would cost if they went out into the marketplace to recruit an employee, as particularly in the last 3 months of the period it is literally 80 hours of week intensive each week. With my husbands health failing, I do not feel agreeable to working such intensive hours for a company like this anymore.
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