Self employed eligibility.

[Curious_Jim]

Hello, I am in the process of launching a new recruitment platform for people that are self employed. We opened a waiting list on our website and a significant proportion of the users that have signed up are a mixture of non-uk passport holders, non-uk permanent residents, and other variations. As part of our registration process we use a 3rd party right to work verification company, but we of course want to build in a check safe that confirms users have the right to be self employed. I have read various articles online and attempted .gov resources, but I'm still lacking in a robust and clear set of questions that would determine whether someone is eligible for self employment. I want to avoid asking the direct question of "are you eligible for self employment" as this could be answered in an untruthful manner. Whilst it is of course the users responsibility to file self assessments etc, and platforms such as FIVERR do not check eligibility as part of registration, we feel it is appropriate to ascertain this information prior to users using our platform to source work. I hope that makes sense, and any help greatly appreciated. (We have engaged with solicitors, however we are still at the stage of understanding whether there is an appetite for our platform prior to committing significant funds).

[PallasAthena]

Not sure if this relevant to your question but bear in mind that for tax purposes HMRC don't label people as self employed but contracts. So an individual who has several jobs at the same time could be self-employed in one contract but an employee under PAYE under another contract.

[Curious_Jim]

Thank you for your reply, very much appreciated. Your point is relevant as we anticipate that some users will access work via our platform in addition to employed status work. To sharpen up my question, I suppose my question changes to "what visa or residency status does a non-permanent UK resident require to undertake self employed contract work?"

[ULA]

Hi Curious_Jim the question that you have set out in post #3 is the better question, as regardless of the employment status an individual has to have the necessary visa or residency status in the UK to be able to undertake any form of work here.

[PallasAthena]

You mention various gov resources but is the HMRC CEST checker something you could incorporate somewhere in your platform? Requiring the person to complete CEST and provide you with the result? Not sure whether that would work for you as it would require the worker to know the details of the work involved which they maight not have at that time.

I expect you are familiar with CEST but posting a link to it just in case as it's the key status checker for whether the proposed contract is self employment that HMRC will accept as binding in most cases.

Check employment status for tax - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)