On the go: Online estate agency Purplebricks is facing legal action from more than 100 of its self-employed estate agents, who claim they are entitled to a workplace pension, contributions and holiday pay.
The claim, being brought against Purplebricks by Contactors for Justice, is being made in the wake of landmark cases involving other self-employed and gig economy workers.
The estate agency’s business model relies on self-employed “territory owners”, who oversee several “local property experts”. However, agents have told the Financial Times that the working culture is more akin to being direct employees.
In August, Purplebricks announced that it would move its agents to a fully employed status, directly employing those members of staff and entitling them to pension contributions, paid leave and sick pay.
In a statement, Purplebricks said: “All territory operators entered into a commercial licence agreement and this was clearly set out in their contract with Purplebricks.
“We have always taken legal advice in regards to our licensing model — and the advice is very clear that these individuals were operating as limited companies, running their own business and with full control over their own staff.”
But Peter Fletcher, a consultant for Contractors for Justice, said: “HMRC and the courts are clear that just designating your staff as self-employed does not mean that you may operate those workers as employees in all but name just to save the company from paying holiday pay, statutory pension contributions, and so on.
“In recent cases involving Amazon and Uber, it’s been found that self-employed contractors were in fact workers in the eyes of the law,” he added.
In September, Uber announced that drivers will be auto-enrolled into a scheme provided by master trust Now Pensions if they earn more than £10,000 a year. Uber will contribute 3 per cent of a driver’s earnings into the pension pot, while drivers can choose to contribute a minimum of 5 per cent of qualifying earnings.
Uber also extended an invitation to work with all operators to create a cross-industry pension scheme, allowing more self-employed gig economy workers access to pensions.
