There is no Yes or No answer to this question. It all depends on the nature of the contractual relationship between you and the contractor. The are three possible situations. If the nature of your contractual relationship indicates that you are an employee of the contractor or that you are a "worker", you are entitled to four week statutory holiday pay each year as provided by the Working Time Regulations 1998. If the relationship is such that you are self-employed, you are not entitled to holiday pay.

Your immediate reaction may be that you are self-employed. The contractor deducts 18% from your invoices towards your tax liabilities and you complete a tax return each year. However, even though you may be treated as self-employed for tax purposes, that does not automatically indicate that you are self-employed for employment rights such as holiday pay.

The first issue, therefore, is whether you are an employee. If you have regular on-going work with the contractor, in other words you are not engaged simply for the duration of a project, you are likely to be an employee. That is not a decision that you have to make, however. It is the contractor's legal responsibility to get your employment status right, both for tax purposes and for employment rights purposes. If you are an employee, you should be paid through the contractor's payroll and pay tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) like all other employees. You are also entitled to holiday pay - not just the statutory four weeks but whatever the contractor provides under employment contracts. You may find booklet IR148 Are your workers employed or self-employed? published by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) useful to understand the issues.

If you are not an employee, the next issue is whether you are a "worker". If you are a skilled tradesman without a business structure and you work for one contractor for the duration of a construction project, you are likely to be a "worker". You will find the find the PayPerShop news item Meaning of "worker" for holiday pay helpful. It explains an Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that a number of skilled bricklayers, apparently holders of CIS4 registration cards, were "workers" and therefore entitled to holiday pay.

If you don't fall into either the "employee" or "worker" categories because you are set up as a business, perhaps with your own business premises and equipment, and you work for more than one contractor or client at a time, then you are self-employed for employment rights - which means basically that you don't get any!

You should also read the more detailed information on this subject in the FAQ I am self-employed. Am I entitled to holiday pay or any other benefits from my client?

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