# Employment status: employee, worker, and self-employed

> **Key takeaway:** Employee (ERA s.230) vs worker (limb-b) vs self-employed. Reality over labels (Autoclenz). Factors: personal service, control, mutuality, integration, substitution (Ready Mixed; Pimlico; Uber). Rights depend on status category.

- **Jurisdiction:** England & Wales
- **Practice area:** Employment
- **Last reviewed:** 2026-08-04
- **Interactive page:** https://kttclegal.info/library/notes/Employment/employment-status
- **Keywords:** employment status, employee, worker, self-employed, ERA 1996 s.230, Uber v Aslam, Pimlico Plumbers, personal service, Autoclenz

## What is this about?

Employment rights in Great Britain turn heavily on statutory status. 'Employee', 'worker', and genuinely self-employed contractor are distinct categories with different rights (unfair dismissal and redundancy typically require employee status; national minimum wage, working time, and whistleblowing protection extend to workers). Status is determined by statute and multi-factorial case law, not labels alone.

## What is the core rule?

An employee works under a contract of employment (ERA 1996 s.230(1)–(2)): a contract of service or apprenticeship. A worker (s.230(3)) includes employees and those who undertake to perform work personally for another who is not a client/customer of a business undertaking carried on by the individual — the extended limb-b worker category. Courts and tribunals look at the reality of the relationship: control, personal service, mutuality of obligation, integration, and whether substitution rights are genuine (Pimlico Plumbers; Uber BV v Aslam; Ready Mixed Concrete).

## What are the elements or test?

1. Identify the right claimed: does it require employee status, worker status, or apply more broadly?
2. Examine the written terms and the practical reality (Autoclenz approach to sham/unequal bargaining terms)
3. Personal service: is there a genuine unfettered substitution right, or is personal performance required?
4. Control / subordination / integration into the business?
5. Mutuality of obligation (especially for employee status over time) and whether the other party is a client/customer of the individual's independent business

## Which authorities matter?

- **Employment Rights Act 1996, s.230** — Statutory definitions of employee and worker for ERA rights.
- **Ready Mixed Concrete (South East) Ltd v Minister of Pensions and National Insurance [1968] 2 QB 497** — Classic multi-factor test for contract of service: personal service, control, and other consistent terms.
- **Uber BV v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5, [2021] ICR 657** — Supreme Court: statutory purpose approach to worker status; control through the app and inability to strike an independent business relationship with passengers supported worker status.
- **Pimlico Plumbers Ltd v Smith [2018] UKSC 29, [2018] ICR 1511** — Supreme Court on personal performance and limited substitution clauses in the worker/employee analysis.

## How does this apply in practice?

Tax status (IR35 / HMRC tests) is related but not identical to employment-rights status — do not assume one determines the other. Agency workers and limb-b workers have specific regimes. This note does not cover continuity of employment calculation in detail.

## What are common pitfalls?

- Treating a 'contractor' label or company invoice arrangement as conclusive
- Ignoring Autoclenz reality where written terms do not reflect the true agreement
- Assuming all workers can claim unfair dismissal (generally employees only)
- Conflating HMRC tax status with ERA worker/employee status

## When would a practitioner use this?

First filter for tribunal claims, drafting engagement terms, and gig-economy / contractor risk assessments.

## Quick reference

Employee (ERA s.230) vs worker (limb-b) vs self-employed. Reality over labels (Autoclenz). Factors: personal service, control, mutuality, integration, substitution (Ready Mixed; Pimlico; Uber). Rights depend on status category.

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*Reference material from [KTTC Legal](https://kttclegal.info/), not legal advice. Work product supports instructing solicitors and barristers under their supervision. England & Wales.*