I have had my salon for 26 yrs, starting off with employed staff, then changing over to self employed staff around 15 yrs ago.
they were originally on a table rent and now they pay a % of their takings as rent.
regarding hours of work and holidays, you are entitled to stipulate when you require the services of that self employed member of staff.
can you imagine if they all decided to go home at the same time or all go on holiday for the same 2 weeks?
you cant run a salon with no staff, and you are contracting these people to provide a service, that IS different to employing that person, but all business owners are entitled to stipulate hours and holidays etc.
Its the same as builders/plumbers etc. they are self employed/sub-contracted by the contractor according to each job and what is required. What would happen if those workers decided to go on holiday half way through fitting your bathroom?!
there is specific wording that is used for the contract that you would have with your self employed person, similar but not an employment contract.
we have a salon handbook, which sets out our policies on appearance, customer care, lunches, hours of work, etc. It is to protect the staff member as well as the business owner.
we have recently employed one member of our team and we are looking to extend this to others if we are brave enough!
The law has been so far loaded against the employer, but the business stands to earn more money for its trouble, so it looks like the way we will go.
hth