Hiya, many thanks for the points above and i do appreciate that the law changes all the time but i can confirm he absolutley is an employee, his contract is a permanent contract and has been forall the time. Tax and national insurance comes is taken out of his wage every month, he is not a contractual employee he has an employee number too, he has been self employed before but not in this job. My partner has stuck with this employer as they have promised him numerous times pay rises and also advancement on his drivers licence to drive the bigger vehicals - upgrading to a C class licence . So with this in view he has stuck with company.

I understand this is confusing. My partner is a gaming party bus employee and has a perm contract, he is not self employed, he is responsible keeping the vehicle clean and tidy which is absolutley fine BUT he buys the cleaning products as the company dont supply them also batteries that need to be put in the handheld devices for the XBOX, PS4 ETC he is also expected to pay with his own money and then they are meant to reinburse him which they hardly ever do, he keeps the recepits inthe log book where it is collected every friday. They have warned him because he has had his mobile cut off because we cannot afford to pay the extra on the bill for a company call he had to make to India,also the additional data charges have racked up to nearly double his bill this month) Im waiting to pay it on the 28th BUT because customers cannot contact him on it they have issued him a warning about his phone There is nothing in his contract that stipulates he must supply and pay for his own mobile phone for company use or pay for cleaning products and use our broadband and electricity at home for their use as well. He's been doing this job for about 3 years now but because they have got nasty about his phone it has broken the camels back for us and we wanted advise as we feel he is being bullied and blackmailed about this.

Hi Sgtbush. Thankyou for your reply. I agree with you that they are absolutley taking the proverbial. I did not know that you could claim tax relief as an empolyee for mobile, i just dont understand why they absolutely refuse to supply a works mobile phone for business use or even contribute to the phone bill, when their whole business relies on customers! Also isnt there an issue with privacy with his giving out his number without permission to any Tom Dick or Harry? With regards to using our electricity and broadband ( also in his own time at home!) they say that he has to take them home to update the systems otherwise the consoles will not work properly. My partner went to work not long ago with sickness and ( well, you can guess whatelse) and he had to go to work as there was no cover for him, its even worse that he works with children. Yes i am concered about how much especailly at the weekends he drives.. he can be home at 10pm from being out at 8 in the morning. and then he will have an early start and late finish again the next day. My partner is an employee, not self employed - thanks so much i look forward to Sangie's reply.. my partner has a meeting with them tomorrow to discuss his warning about his phone for their use so any ammo we can go in with would be great.

Hiya! Im hoping to get some advice for my partner on an ongoing work issue. My partner works for a company where it relies heavily on contact with customers. This company has always said that because people now a days have a mobile phone plan that includes unlimited minuites and texts they dont see why they should supply a mobile phone or contribute to the bill. This company give every customer my partners personal phone number to contact him on. My partner now has had his phone temporarily cut off ( this is due to having to make a call to India for work purposes which they have not paid for despite being shown on the bill that it was a work call which has added additional money on to the bill) My partner also has to use his data on his phone which always goes over his limit as he needs to use the maps to get to customer locations. I also want to add that this company ( my partner has been working for for 3 years) has issued him with a warning about his phone which has absolutley infuriated me! This company also use our electrcity at home and our broadband to update their console systems for the bus! They also use our money to buy batteries and cleaning products for the bus ( which they hardly ever re-imburse) Also he cannot have sick days. They said to him if he is sick and there is no cover he will be charged from his wages the cost of the party ( upto £300) Also he has missed out on holidays and weddings as they are booking parties so far ahead we as a family cannot plan anything. They have also said that if a party is booked that day ( parties are always booked 6 days a week..upto 3 parties a day so he has one day off a week) he absolutley cannot have that day off. I'm honestly so sick of this company, i feel like we are being taken this pee out of completely. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as this is so much to get our head around. I think them issuing him with a warning over his personal mobile phone for work usage was the last straw. Many thanks for your help