How you actually work can override what your contract says on paper.
“Supreme Court held valeters were workers in law despite contracts labelling them self-employedA working arrangement where you are in business on your own account rather than working under a contract of employment. The label your employer gives the arrangement does not determine your status —....”
If the way you actually work doesn't match your contract, a tribunal can look past the paperwork and decide your rights based on what really happens.
- Check whether any substitution clause in your contract has ever actually been used. An unused substitution clause carries little weight with a tribunal.
- Keep a record of when you're told to work, what happens if you try to turn work down, and any pressure to be constantly available.
- Get advice quickly if you think you've been mislabelled as self-employed. Claims tied to workerA legal category that sits between employee and self-employed. Workers are entitled to certain rights including national minimum wage, paid holiday, and protection from unlawful deduction from wages, ... status usually have to reach a tribunal within three monthsThe standard time limit for bringing most employment tribunal claims, running from the date of the act complained of. Because the limit is three months less one day, you should not wait until what fee... less one day of the problem arising.
The situation
Car valeters were engaged by a company on contracts that described them as self-employed contractors. The contracts allowed workers to send someone else to do the job. There was no obligation on the company to offer work. Workers could refuse it too. In practice, the valeters had to turn up whenever they were told to, nobody had ever sent a substitute, and turning down work was not a real option.
What the court found
The Supreme Court looked past the paperwork. What counts is the true agreement between the parties, not the words used to describe it. Tribunals can look past the written document to how the work actually happened, and disregard any clause put there only to avoid giving workers their rights. Because no valeter had ever used the substitution clause, and none could realistically turn work down, the true relationship was one of employment, not self-employment.
The valeters were workers, entitled to rights under the Working Time Regulations and the National Minimum WageThe legal minimum hourly rate for workers under 21. From 1 April 2026, it's £10.85 for 18 to 20-year-olds, and £8.00 for under-18s and apprentices. Tips, in any form, do not count towards it. These ... Act.
Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher. [2011] UKSC 41. Supreme Court. 27 July 2011.