04.04.11 Ready Mixed Concrete case cements historic mutuality win!

Ready Mixed Concrete case cements historic mutuality win!

In a judgement handed down on 16th March 2011, the Employment Appeal Tribunal found that a self-employed taxi driver was not an employee due to a lack of “mutuality of obligations”.

The Claimant was a licensed private hire driver, who was engaged by the Respondent between 1 September 2008 and 14 October 2008.  He was told that he would receive mileage rates for the work that he did, that he had to provide his car upon the basis that he paid the insurance as well as the running costs including petrol, maintenance bills and other expenses.  The Claimant was paid by submitting an invoice based on the records of the Respondent, but had to pay his own tax and national insurance contributions and did not have any set working hours.  The Employment Tribunal held that he was not an employee and he appealed.

Held that the appeal had to be dismissed because there was no mutuality of obligation as the Claimant did not have to work and the Respondent did not have to provide work for him (Ready Mixed Concrete (South East) v Minister of Pensions [1968] 1 All ER 433 applied).