Free Webinar for Employers: Changes to Worker Status Following Uber Ruling
Time: 11:30 - 12:30 BST (if you can't attend live, register to watch the recording. If you are unable to register via zoom, please email us so we can send you the recording link: registrations@bfi.co.uk)
Cost per attendee: FREE
Platform: Zoom - An encrypted zoom platform with password access. Click here for further information and to test access
Ahead of our half day briefing, this FREE webinar will ensure employers of "gig workers" understand the huge implications of Uber's long-running historic court battle. The high court ruling means your independent contractors could now be now entitled to basic employment rights.
UK organisations work with over 1.3 million "gig workers": independent contractors, online platform workers, contract firm workers, on-call workers, and temporary workers. Where now classed as "workers" rather than self-employed contractors, they are entitled to:
- Paid sick leave
- Paid holiday
- Pensions
- National minimum wage
- The right to not work more than 48 hours on average per week
Why attend this FREE webinar?
- Hear from an outstanding speaker line-up, including the lawyer who represented the original lead claimants of the case; the author of the independent "Taylor Review" of modern working practices; the current National Officer of the GMB Union; IR35's most prominent thought leader and the author of 'CEST explained'
- Understand the far-reaching consequences of the ruling, especially in the light of Brexit and Covid-19
- Know how to determine a worker’s status
- Grasp the implications to current business models
- Examine the need to clarify UK employment status
- Find out what crucial steps UK employers need to take right now to ensure their Modern Slavery Statement is workable
- Mitigate against similar claims and reputational risks
This FREE webinar features a 20 minute legal plenary outlining the implications for employers of "gig workers", and a 30 minute panel where experts in this area will debate the future of online platform work such as Handy, Deliveroo, Upwork and other zero hours and self-employment trends in the context of the way in which the court framed the Uber decision. We will also examine the need to clarify UK employment status in the light of the pandemic and the crucial steps UK employers need to take right now to ensure their Modern Slavery Statement is workable, as well as ensure they are protected against similar claims and reputational risks.
Need more in-depth support to mitigate the implications to you as an employer? Register for our half day briefing here.
Want to run this course in-house? We can tailor any of our events to run in-house for your organisation, find out more here
Which functions will benefit from attending
- HR, Temporary and Agency Resourcing, Training, Compliance and Audit, Administration, Policy, Workforce Planning, Business Continuity Planning, Contingency, Recruitment, Resourcing, Legal & Compliance, Employee Relations, Security, Risk, Strategy, Operations, and all Directors, Line Managers and staff with responsibilities within this area.
Hear from
Schedule
Chair's welcome
Elizabeth Smith
Director of Research , Business Forums International Ltd. (BFI)
Elizabeth is director of research and a founding co-director at Business Forums International. She is responsible for all programme content and writing, and researches current areas of interest for senior HR professionals in large organisations. BFI is the UK’s leading HR risk specialist conference and training provider, delivering key and timely information to over 3,000 delegates a year both through public and in-house training courses. Before founding BFI in 1996, Elizabeth specialised in researching corporate financial programmes in Asia and the Middle East, based in Dubai. She also worked in advertising and publishing in the Middle East and London. Elizabeth was educated in the West Indies, Saudi Arabia and Belgium before reading Modern Languages at Durham University. She is currently developing an online training course for line managers to raise awareness of menopause symptoms and ways that employers can work to make their workplaces more inclusive.
Legal analysis of the ruling: what does this really mean for Uber and other gig economy employers?
Paul Jennings
Partner , Bates Wells
Paul advises companies, charities, LLPs and senior executives on all aspects of employment and partnership law. His day-to-day practice involves dealing with the full range of employment law and partnership issues. This can range from negotiating complex contracts to pursuing and defending high-value claims. Paul has a particular interest and expertise in the law on status and discrimination having fought a numbering of the defining cases in these areas. His clients include PLCs, international charities, media and technology businesses, senior executives and start-ups. He has been recognised for a number of years as a leader in the field of employment law by the leading legal directories and frequently provide commentary for television and news media. He regularly speaks at HR and legal conferences and he oversees the employment team’s annual seminar programme.
- Looking beyond the immediate concerns of Uber and its drivers
- Written contracts
- Determining a worker’s status
- Implications to current business models
- “Subordination and control”
- Understanding the ramifications and far-reaching consequences
- Legal implications: preparing for changes to employment status in 2021 and beyond
Panel debate - platform work: policy and precariousness
Matthew Taylor
Chief Executive
Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (The RSA)
Matthew Taylor
Chief Executive , Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (The RSA)
Matthew Taylor CBE FAcSS is a British former political strategist and current Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) in the United Kingdom since 2006. In 2005, he was appointed by incumbent Prime Minister Tony Blair as head of the Number 10 Policy Unit. He is a writer, public speaker and broadcaster who has been a panellist on BBC Radio 4's The Moral Maze since 2008. In October 2016, he was appointed Chair of the Review of Modern Employment established by Prime Minister Theresa May; the Taylor Review report Good Work was published in July 2017.
Dave Chaplin
CEO , IR35 Shield
Dave Chaplin is the CEO of tax compliance firm IR35 Shield which enables firms, agencies and contractors to remain compliant with the Intermediaries Legislation (IR35) and Off-payroll legislation. Dave is the author of the Contractors’ Handbook Third Edition and more recently IR35 & Off-Payroll – explained. He assists with IR35 tax tribunals, has consulted on many occasions for HMRC, advises politicians and Government bodies on freelance tax matters, and is prolifically quoted in the trade and national press. In November 2020, Dave was included in the Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA)’ list of Europe’s 100 most influential leaders in the staffing industry.
Rebecca Seeley Harris, LLB (Hons) LLM MSc
Employment Status, Off-payroll & IR35 Expert
Re Legal Consulting Ltd
Rebecca Seeley Harris, LLB (Hons) LLM MSc
Employment Status, Off-payroll & IR35 Expert , Re Legal Consulting Ltd
Rebecca is a leading expert and thought leader on employment status, off-payroll working and IR35 and is the author of CEST Explained. Recently she won the Contracting Industry Influencer of the Year 2023 and last year won the FSB Self-employed Sole Trader of the Year. She was also shortlisted for Outstanding Contribution to Taxation 2020-21 in the Tolley’s Taxation Awards for her campaigning work during the Covid pandemic. Rebecca set up her legal consultancy, Re Legal Consulting Ltd, when the Inland Revenue brought in the IR35 tax initiative some 23 years ago. Since then Rebecca has specialised on IR35, off-payroll working and the employment and tax status of the self-employed and personal service companies. She works with clients nationally and internationally, the private and the public sector, with representative organisations and government. Rebecca was seconded to the Office of Tax Simplification (an independent body of HM Treasury) as a Senior Policy Adviser to advise the government on employment and tax status. Reporting direct to the Chancellor, Rebecca was part of a small team of experts who drafted the Employment Status Review 2015 and the Small Company Taxation review [2016] leading on the taxation of nano companies and the self-employed. Rebecca developed the concept of SEPA, providing a vehicle to the self-employed to be able to protect the family home. Rebecca was also a representative on the Cross-Government Working Group on Employment Status and also published the review into the taxation of the Gig Economy. She is a member of the Tax Faculty of the ICAEW and is a consultant to the British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG) and Urgent Health UK, amongst others. She has recently written a book called CEST Explained which, as the title suggests, explains HMRC’s digital tool Check Employment Status for Tax. Rebecca is often quoted in the press including the Financial Times, the Telegraph and the Times amongst others. She also contributes to the professional press and writes articles on employment status. Rebecca has most recently started a campaign for the regulation of umbrella companies and the protection of umbrella company workers. She does this voluntarily by drafting policy documents for the government to use to bring forward legislation.
Juliet Eccleston
CEO & Founder , AnyGood
Juliet is the CEO and Founder of AnyGood?, a platform where a diverse network of professionals recommend other professionals for roles. Prior to this her background was working as a freelance contractor, delivering multi £m change programmes within large corporates. After 20 years building high performing teams, her frustration with the process for recruitment collided with opportunity and the rise of the sharing economy. Following years of research of best practise platform models, AnyGood? was launched in 2017 and now provides personally recommended candidates to organisations across the UK and beyond. Juliet is also Chair of Sharing Economy UK, the trade body for sharing platforms, which works in partnership with the CBI. Juliet supports the growth of the sharing economy, maximising and highlighting the economic, social and environmental impact, enabling each business and the economy to reach its true potential. Juliet has deep knowledge of start-ups, network effects, two/three sided marketplaces, platform strategies and scaling. In addition, as part of this role, she is actively involved in providing input into Government regulation, policy and proposed taxation of platforms.
Experts in this area will debate the future of online platform work such as Handy, Deliveroo, Upwork and other zero hours and self-employment trends in the context of the way in which the court framed the Uber decision. We will also examine the need to clarify UK employment status in the light of the pandemic and the crucial steps UK employers need to take right now to ensure their Modern Slavery Statement is workable, as well as ensure they are protected against similar claims and reputational risks.
End of webinar
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