Self employment concerns

[Julie-Liz]

Hi geeks,

Hoping I could pick your brains get some impartial thoughts on this as I am a bit worried, I recently had an opportunity to go self employed. I was offered a % in a new salon, the owners have absolutely zero hair or beauty knowledge, they have other businesses that are unrelated to each other in terms of what industry category they fall into, that are very successful.
Anyway, it's come to light that the salon is to be looked after by a young girl with no knowledge of management or salon running, my takings are supposedly going to go through their till and I get my % at the end of each week. I will be telling them this cannot happen. They have provided me a uniform (which I hate) they try and tell me when they expect me in and if I'm not there first thing (which I can't be as I have kids to take to school, hence my already being a mobile therapist) they text me asking where I am. We aren't open yet so It's not like I'm leaving clients waiting. They insist on booking my appointments for me, potential clients don't have access to my phone number, just the salons land line. I know I need my own business cards but I'm so unsure I haven't ordered any yet.
The young girl "in charge" had hairdressers in and trade tested them herself as they are to be employed, I didn't think someone with zero hair experience could do this but I suppose that's none of my business.
my family have suggested that perhaps I should cut my losses and walk away. They think it all sounds a bit strange, I have no access to the building and have had to wait for ages for someone to come and open up when I have needed to drop product and things off, I don't know if that's the done thing anyway and can understand no one would hand out keys to their own building to strangers basically. There have been no contracts or agreements drawn up either and no mention if it, which I think poses a risk to myself and the owners.
Sorry this is long winded, my main question is does this sound like a bad arrangement and should I try and get things clearer first or just say I've changed my mind and leave well alone? Thank you for reading x

 

[libbylou]

Yes this is a very bad arrangement. They are just your landlords nothing else. You should have access to the building, take your own money, book your own clients, keep all client data, wear what you wont, start and finish when you wont,have your own price lists etc. That is just some simple examples, speak up now before you get started, get everything clear or walk away. x

 

[squidgernetball]

Yes this is a bad arrangement.

Can you go back to the people you had the initial agreement with or do you have to deal with the new manageress?

My self employeds have a key to the premises, they do all their own advertising, they take all their own money and bookings.

They are self employed, and I have no say over when they arrive/leave etc. The only thing I have done is to suggest to one of them that she is around a bit to answer questions people have about her treatments which has worked well for her!

I'd either see if you can move the goal posts by explaining that you are self employed and that what they are trying to do is not self employed, and if not, cut your losses.

Good luck

Vic x

 

[Martin Duffy]

If they want to call you self-employed, then they have to treat you as being self-employed. HMRC give quite clear guidance on what they consider as constituting self-employed status. If you don't meet that criteria then the tax office will not be happy with those you are renting the space off - they take a dim view of business's calling staff self-employed so as to circumvent offering basic employment rights (holiday pay etc). I would take the information from the HMRC website and present it to your landlords, taking the tact that you want to re-negotiate your terms so as to abide with tax law. The relevant information is here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/employment-status/

As a general guide as to whether a worker is an employee or self-employed; if the answer is 'Yes' to all of the following questions, then the worker is probably an employee:

Do they have to do the work themselves?
Can someone tell them at any time what to do, where to carry out the work or when and how to do it?
Can they work a set amount of hours?
Can someone move them from task to task?
Are they paid by the hour, week, or month?
Can they get overtime pay or bonus payment?


If the answer is 'Yes' to all of the following questions, it will usually mean that the worker is self-employed:

Can they hire someone to do the work or engage helpers at their own expense?
Do they risk their own money?
Do they provide the main items of equipment they need to do their job, not just the small tools that many employees provide for themselves?
Do they agree to do a job for a fixed price regardless of how long the job may take?
Can they decide what work to do, how and when to do the work and where to provide the services?
Do they regularly work for a number of different people?
Do they have to correct unsatisfactory work in their own time and at their own expense?

 

[Julie-Liz]

Thank you all, I thought maybe they were getting a bit ahead of themselves. I want to be at the salon as much as possible to get a good presence there but it's in a different town to where I live, so I have to drop my kids at school and get there. Being in at 9am is not possible and I chose specific days because they offered me 3 originally, now they want me in on days I didn't agree to at the start.

I can try and re-negotiate as a contract is yet to be drawn up so if we can get together and sort it it would be great. With nights drawing in I don't enjoy the travel between clients houses in the dark. One place of work is better than several, there is more space and it's practical. I just want to run my business by myself as I see fit. If I wanted to be answering to someone I would hunt for employment. Which I might end up doing should this flop.

That link is very helpful, I struggled to find the correct info in a rush yesterday as we had an open night so there was no chance of talking shop!
I worry too much and really want things to go smoothly, there is another therapist there who I went to college with and she has the same concerns so hopefully we can both get this clear before we start working and in too deep, so to speak.

Fingers crossed we can negotiate the terms better and make this a success.

I mainly end up dealing with the manageress as the owners have other businesses to run and we have no numbers or contact info to get hold of them. Seems like someone was bought a salon for Xmas off a relative basically.

 

[Miss Sparkle]

Very dodgy. If you are self-employed you should effectively be running your own independent business from the building, that means you handle your advertising, your bookings, your payments and you have access out of hours. See if you can re-negotiate or failing that take it elsewhere - or stick with mobile, it seems to fit in well with your family situation.

 

[Julie-Liz]

Very dodgy. If you are self-employed you should effectively be running your own independent business from the building, that means you handle your advertising, your bookings, your payments and you have access out of hours. See if you can re-negotiate or failing that take it elsewhere - or stick with mobile, it seems to fit in well with your family situation.

Thanks for your reply.
This is what I thought, I have a feeling the owners and manageress have never done this before and don't understand how it is supposed to work. Fingers crossed I can get this straight.

 

[the_owl]

As others have said, this is not quite right (to say the least!).

I am an accountant as well as a beauty therapist, so please feel free to message me if you have any questions, I'm happy to help.

Lucy x

 

[Julie-Liz]

As others have said, this is not quite right (to say the least!).



I am an accountant as well as a beauty therapist, so please feel free to message me if you have any questions, I'm happy to help.



Lucy x

Thank you. I will keep you in mind, really hoping it can be re-negotiated properly.