Am I a Worker or Self-Employed in Northern Ireland?

Who this guide is for

People in Northern Ireland who work through an app or platform, or on casual or freelance terms, and want to know whether they are a worker or self-employed and what rights that gives them.

What this guide does not cover

• Work in England, Wales or Scotland: see the guide for England, Wales and Scotland. Its time limits are different.
• Tax, including IR35: use the IR35 checker.
• How much holiday pay you are owed: use the zero hours checker. Minimum wage underpayments in detail: use the minimum wage checker. Agency workers: use the agency worker checker.
• How the minimum wage is worked out for time spent logged in to an app waiting for jobs, and pay through an umbrella company. This guide does not cover them: ask the LRA.
• Your other rights as an employee: use the employee rights checker. Tribunal time limits in detail: use the tribunal deadline checker.

The questions that decide the answer

An industrial tribunal looks at four main things:

1. Control: can you choose whether to do the work yourself or send someone else, and choose when and how you work?
2. Integration: are you part of the organisation, for example included in staff training and meetings, the disciplinary procedure, and company benefits and pension schemes?
3. Mutuality of obligations: does the business offer work only if and when it is available, and can you turn work down?
4. Economic reality: do you meet the losses as well as take the profits, correct poor work at your own expense, send invoices for your pay, get a fixed price for a job, provide the main equipment and work for a range of different businesses?

Then: what has gone wrong, and when? Most claims must be made within 3 months less 1 day.

"Am I a worker or self-employed?"

Think of a sliding scale, with employee at one end and genuinely self-employed at the other. The more the answers to the questions above point to you being in business on your own account, the more likely you are to be self-employed.

If you can decide when you will work and turn down work when offered, the business offers work only as it becomes available, and you are not in business on your own account, you are likely to be a worker rather than an employee.

Most agency workers, short-term casual workers and some freelancers are likely to be workers but not employees.

This is guidance only. A definitive answer can only be given by an industrial tribunal or court.

"The app says I'm self-employed"

The label does not settle it: the tribunal looks at all the circumstances. In some limited cases you can be self-employed for tax but a worker or an employee for employment rights.

In 2021 the UK Supreme Court decided that the Uber drivers in that case were workers, not self-employed contractors (Uber BV v Aslam). That case was decided under Great Britain's law and was about those drivers. Ask the LRA how your own situation fits.

If the business is refusing you a right, such as holiday pay, because it says you are self-employed, try to resolve it with them directly first. A trade union representative may be able to help.

"What rights do I get as a worker?"

Providing any other qualifying conditions are met, all workers have rights to: the National Minimum Wage; rest breaks, paid holiday and limits on night work; protection against unauthorised deductions from pay; maternity, paternity and adoption pay (but not leave); protection if you make a disclosure in the public interest (whistleblowing); and not to be discriminated against unlawfully.

You need to be classed as a worker to have the right to paid holiday. The statutory minimum is 5.6 weeks a year.

Employees also have rights to statutory sick pay, maternity, adoption and paternity leave and pay, the right not to be unfairly dismissed and redundancy pay. Some of these need a minimum length of continuous employment.

In Northern Ireland, ordinary unfair dismissal needs at least 1 year of continuous employment, and only employees can claim it.

"How much should I be paid?"

If you are a worker, you must get at least the minimum wage for your age. From 1 April 2026 the hourly rates are: £12.71 at 21 and over; £10.85 at 18 to 20; £8.00 under 18; and £8.00 for apprentices.

The rates are the same in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, contact the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) on 03300 555 300.

The genuinely self-employed are not covered by the minimum wage.

"The app has deactivated me"

The right not to be unfairly dismissed and redundancy pay are employee rights.

Whistleblowing protection covers workers. If you were dropped after reporting wrongdoing, use the whistleblowing checker.

Protection against unlawful discrimination also covers workers. For enquiries about discrimination, contact the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland.

If you think you may be an employee, not just a worker, ask the LRA: unfair dismissal depends on it. Otherwise, check the terms you agreed with the platform.

"I'm self-employed and a client hasn't paid me"

Raise it with the client first. As a self-employed person your rights are set by the contract you have with your client. To claim money you are owed, use the small claims checker.

"What about tax?"

You pay your own tax and National Insurance if you are self-employed. Your status for tax can be different from your status for employment rights. If you are a contractor, the IR35 rules might apply: use the IR35 checker.

"Does the app have to check my right to work?"

From 1 October 2026, yes, if you start on or after that date and work under a worker's contract, as an individual sub-contractor (for example, logging into a delivery app to accept jobs), or through an online matching service. This applies even if the app calls you self-employed. It does not apply if you run your own independent business and deal directly with your own customers. If you started before 1 October 2026 in one of these ways, the law does not require them to check you, but they can still choose to.

• If your contract lets you send a substitute, the substitute should be checked before they do any work. The app cannot leave that check to you.
• If you have an eVisa, the only way to prove your right to work is online: you give them a share code starting with W (it lasts 90 days) and they check it on GOV.UK. They cannot check your documents by hand instead. An expired Biometric Residence Permit is no longer accepted.
• If you do not have an eVisa, they cannot insist on one way of proving it. If you do not want your identity checked through a digital ID provider, they should check your original documents instead. A check by hand means they see your original documents, with you there in person or on a video call (you can post the originals to them), and keep a copy. They must never ask for your passwords.
• They should check everyone the same way. If you are treated differently because of your race, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland can help (see Where to go for help).
• Problems with your online status: UKVI Resolution Centre, 0300 790 6268.

This guide explains the checking rules only. For your own visa or immigration status: GOV.UK, the Home Office or a regulated immigration adviser.

Deadlines you must meet

• Before most tribunal claims you must notify the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) for early conciliation.
• Most claims must be made within 3 months less 1 day.
• If you notify the LRA within your time limit, the clock stops for up to 1 calendar month while conciliation takes place, plus up to 14 more days if both sides agree.
• Your exact date depends on your facts: the tribunal deadline checker works it out.

Traps

• Being called self-employed in a contract or an app does not settle your status.
• The Uber case was decided under Great Britain's law, about those drivers.
• Worker status gives you the minimum wage and paid holiday, but unfair dismissal protection and redundancy pay are employee rights.
• Your status for tax can be different from your status for employment rights.
• Do not rely on guidance written for England, Wales and Scotland: tribunal time limits and some holiday pay rules are different here.