Is grooming a 'Gig Economy'?

All work in the UK's economy should be "fair and decent", a government review of employment practices has said.

A report was published today that recommends that companies that control and supervise their workers (rather than employees) should pay a range of benefits, including National Insurance.

Among the other issues covered by by the 115 page report is gig economy employment.

The “gig economy” is a description for those who (tend to sell their labour via an app and) are paid per job rather than for the time spent working. There has been much publicity recently about this type of working, with cases currently in the courts debating about the employment rights of such individuals.

The report's author, Matthew Taylor, said "fairness demands" that people, particularly those on lower incomes, had routes to progress in work.

BGA Chief Executive, Lucy Katan, commented, “This report is very timely as we have just launched a survey investigating the engagement of self employed grooms in the equestrian industry. The reasoning behind this research is because we are learning far too often of grooms that are working for just one person and being told that they are “self employed”. This is illegal and tax evasion and we need to gain statistics to discover how widespread this issue truly is. 

In the equestrian industry we kind of have a ‘gig economy’ in that we have some that are genuine freelance self employed grooms, who run their own sole trader businesses. However we will watch with interest with the Governments actions as a result of this report, as many of the freelance grooms do take instruction and work regularly for the same person, which could result in them being the new term of a ‘dependent contractor’ and thus eligible for some employment rights."

Nicole Adams from Clarke Willmott Solicitors LLP said, " There is no quick solution to the current uncertainty and issues which surround employment/worker status and the Taylor Review demonstrates this. It is difficult to see how renaming workers who are not employees “dependant contractors” will assist with this. However, the recommendation that legislation be updated to reflect the raft of case law regarding status is a welcome one.

The report makes a large number of recommendations; however, a number of these would place additional burdens on employers. Whilst it is difficult to see the Government adopting these when, in recent years, it has been actively removing the red tape associated with employment with a view to boosting the economy, Theresa May did say that she would be looking to protect, if not enhance, employment rights. Ensuring that your staff are receiving the correct entitlements (if any), such as national minimum wage and paid holiday, for their employment/worker status remains essential due to the risks and costs associated with being in breach of these.”

However, Labour's shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said the review did not go far enough for the 4.5 million people in insecure work.

She told the BBC: "If it looks like a job or it smells like a job then it is a job, and the worker should be employed, and I think in those situations where a worker is carrying out work on behalf of an employer... they should not be exploited as a flexible workers."

If you are a freelance groom or have been told that you are self employed, please complete our survey which is 100% anonymous and just 12 quick questions CLICK HERE

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