4. Alternative Personal Work Contracts and Relations

This chapter first examines the two statutory constructs occupying an intermediate position between the employment contract and contract for services that have been formulated by the UK Parliament as a repository for the conferral of certain statutory employment rights. These two statutorily recognized personal work contracts—the ‘worker’ contract and the ‘contract personally to do work’—are intermediate contract types, lying somewhere between the contract of employment and the contract for services. The discussion here is situated within the context of the controversy surrounding the growing numbers of atypical working contracts, such as contracts entered into by ‘gig economy’ workers, ‘zero-hours’ workers, casual workers, etc. The chapter then turns to address the legal status of agency workers. It examines whether the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 address the disadvantages experienced by this section of the UK workforce.