{"id":1965,"date":"2022-01-18T04:19:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-18T04:19:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uk.legalvision.com.au\/?p=1965"},"modified":"2026-02-13T02:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T02:49:13","slug":"legal-obligations-contracting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalvision.co.uk\/employment\/legal-obligations-contracting\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Obligations When Hiring a Contractor in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As an employer, ensuring you have enough resources in terms of people may not always mean employing staff through a standard employment contract<\/a>. In fact, there may be occasions when your staff cannot complete the work you require. This may be due to time constraints, resources, or a lack of expertise in a specific area. In this case, you may decide to employ contractors outside your workforce. Therefore, it is important to understand your legal obligations when contracting. Indeed, if you make a mistake, you may find yourself required to pay unpaid tax, and owing employment rights<\/a> you did not realise you owed. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article will explain what legal rules you should understand when contracting. It primarily covers what to consider when contracting with self-employed contractors. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is a Contractor?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A contractor is a person who works for you but who is not usually your employee. Instead, you are often engaging with another self-employed person. You will likely have a contract with them but not an employment contract. Therefore, some different rules will apply when you work with the contractor than those that apply to your employees.  <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A self-employed contractor, for example, will not usually require payment through the PAYE scheme, which you are required to pay your employee through. This means that the tax law which applies to them is different from your employees. Contractors will also not enjoy the rights your employees enjoy through employment law. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Must I Consider When Using a Contractor?<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When using a self-employed person as a contractor to carry out work for your business, employment law does not cover their rights and responsibilities. However, they do still have rights and responsibilities when carrying out the work with you.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Health and Safety Rights<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Work activity is covered by health and safety law<\/a> regardless of whether the person carrying out that work is an employee or a contractor. When you contract with a self-employed person to carry out work for your business, there are rights concerning health and safety which you must both be aware of.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an employer, you must ensure that if a contractor is working on your worksite, you ensure they are healthy and safe as far as is reasonably practicable. This is the same as the legal requirement for your employees. If you are an employer with more than five employees, you must have an up-to-date health and safety policy in place. This will also apply to those you are contracting with who are working in your place of work.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You are also required to assess workplace risks that could affect employees, which applies to your contractor when they are at your workplace. However, a self-employed contractor working in your workplace is also responsible for assessing whether the work they are engaged in is a risk to others or not.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Depending on your area of business, there may be other specific health and safety laws that apply to you in the workplace that may be relevant to your employees and contractors. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Protection Against Discrimination<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are situations where the law will protect your contractor from workplace discrimination<\/a>. This is where the contractor you are using is self-employed, and the contract you have with them requires them to carry out the work personally. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If this is the case, the rules which apply to protection against discrimination for employees also apply to the contractor. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, if the person you are contracting with feels that you have discriminated against them, they could take their case to an employment tribunal. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following could be grounds for claiming discrimination:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n