The government consultation on employment classification and control: a response

The UK government is currently undertaking a consultation on employment status. One element under consideration is what ‘control’ means in the contemporary labour market and to what degree it is relevant for determining a worker’s entitlement to labour rights. This distinction is especially important because most firms in the ‘gig economy’ tend not to classify workers as employees: thus leaving workers without any entitlement to labour rights. The current consultation follows a suggestion by the government’s independent review of modern working practices that greater emphasis should be placed on control when determining worker status (Taylor et al. 2017).