Background

..."At present, there are three separate employment statuses entitling workers to differing levels of rights and protections.

First, there are ‘employees’, who have the most rights.

They are entitled to (amongst other things): 

• parental, maternity, paternity and adoption leave and pay;
• parental bereavement leave and pay; 
• redundancy pay and 
• the right to claim unfair dismissal after two years’ continuous employment; and 
• the right to request flexible working after twenty-six weeks.
• Employees have a traditional working relationship, with a contract, regular hours or shifts, and a guaranteed wage.

Second, there are ‘limb (b) workers.’ 

People in this category are entitled to basic rights, such as

• rest breaks, 
• holiday pay and 
• the National Minimum Wage, 

as well as a few more limited versions of the rights employees enjoy. 

They exist in the space of the modern economy that’s often described as ‘casualised,’ which is common across the retail and service sectors and 

• includes zero-hours contract workers, in which there is no guarantee of regular hours or pay. 

Third, there are the self-employed, who have no workers’ rights.

However, in recent decades, this status has been abused by unscrupulous gig economy employers such as Amazon and Uber – and even those in the construction sector itself – through a process known as
bogus self-employment. 

Under these conditions, people who should be classified as employees or limb (b) workers are instead classed as

self-employed in order to strip them of their entitlements to statutory sick pay (SSP), the National Minimum Wage, holiday pay and other rights. 

These are the most exploited, insecure and poorly-paid workers in the country – and it turns entire sectors of the economy into a Wild West for workers’ rights.

Source: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/08/labour-turns-its-back-on-workers-rights