Types of Employment in the United Kingdom

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There are three main types of employment in the United Kingdom. They are self-employed, employee, and worker. Each type of employment comes with its own rights and responsibilities, which have been outlined below. For further information on types of employment, you can visit gov.uk/employment-status or acas.org.uk/checking-your-employment-rights.

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Self-Employed

You might be self-employed if you:

• You run a business for yourself and are responsible for its success or failure.

• You are not paid through PAYE.

• You can decide what work to do and when to do it.

• You can hire someone else to do the work.

• You use your own money to buy assets for the business, cover running costs and provide your own business equipment.
   

Note: You can be both self-employed and an employee at the same time. For example, you might be an employee in the daytime and run your own business in the evenings and/or on the weekends.

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Employee

You are an employee if you:

• Work under a contract of employment.

• You are required to work regularly unless you’re on leave.

• You are expected to work a minimum number of hours and expect to be paid for that work.

• Someone else is responsible for assigning your workload.

• Your contract of employment uses terms like “employer” and “employee”.

• As an employee, your employer will usually pay your tax for you.

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Worker

You might be considered a worker if you:

• Have a contract or agreement to perform services or work for a reward (money or benefit in kind).

• You have a limited right to send someone else to do the work.

• You have to turn up for work whether you want to or not.

• You aren’t doing the work as part of your own company where your employer is considered a client or customer.

 

Your rights will vary depending on which of the above categories you fall under.