Written for plumbers, gas and heating engineers, electricians, heat pump and drainage firms, bathroom installers doing their own plumbing, and small multi-trade firms serving landlords, anywhere in the UK.
The short version
- Judge status by how the work happens.Your van, uniform, diary and rates make worker or employee status likely, whatever the CIS card or written terms say.
- Count travel from home as working time.For engineers with no fixed base, home to first job and last job home is working time, and stand-by can be too.
- Never let a trainee work gas alone.A trainee works on gas only under direct supervision of a registered engineer holding that category. Otherwise, reassign the job.
If your engineers are paid gross, run their own van and carry a CIS card, it is easy to assume they are self-employed. The courts look at how the work is actually done, and the leading case is about a plumber.
Pimlico Plumbers: the van and the tax status did not decide it
A plumber who was VAT-registered, taxed as self-employed, bought his own tools and leased a branded van was still a worker, because he had to do the work personally under tight control. Worker status brings holiday pay and the minimum wage; employee status adds unfair dismissal and redundancy pay rights, each after 2 years' continuous employment. Written terms do not decide it, and CEST answers only the tax question. As of Oct 2026.
Pimlico Plumbers v Smith [2018] UKSC 29; Uber v Aslam [2021] UKSC 5; Employment Rights Act 1996 ss.108 and 155
With the same van, uniform, diary and rates, worker or employee status is likely, with PAYE, National Insurance and holiday pay exposure behind it.
Travel, on-call and holiday pay
Travel and stand-by can be working time
For engineers with no fixed base, the journey from home to the first job and from the last job home is working time, which counts towards the 48-hour average week; ask your specialist how that time must be paid. Stand-by at home is working time when its constraints significantly limit their free time. The 48-hour average week applies unless the engineer opts out. As of Oct 2026.
Tyco (C-266/14); Matzak (C-518/15)
Holiday pay includes regular overtime and commission
Holiday is 5.6 weeks, and regular overtime and commission count in holiday pay. Irregular-hours workers may get rolled-up holiday pay at 12.07% for leave years from 1 April 2024. As of Oct 2026.
Lock v British Gas Trading [2016] EWCA Civ 983; Bear Scotland v Fulton [2015] ICR 221
A pay design that suits the trade: a base plus a written bonus for jobs, plans and first-time fix, with clawback for callbacks. Remember the commission then counts in holiday pay.
Apprentices, and why gas is different
The routes are the Level 3 plumbing and domestic heating apprenticeship, the Level 3 electrician with the AM2, and gas engineering operative with ACS. As of Oct 2026, in England, for apprenticeships starting from 1 August 2026, a non-levy employer pays no contribution, up to the funding band maximum, for an apprentice aged 16 to 24 at the start of training, and 5% for one aged 25 or over. For training starting from 1 October 2026 you may also receive up to £2,000 for an apprentice aged 16 to 24 at the start of training who has worked for you for no more than 90 days before training starts, paid in two instalments and subject to continued employment. No employer National Insurance is due for apprentices under 25, up to the upper earnings limit.
A trainee never works on gas alone
On gas, a trainee works only under the direct supervision of a registered engineer holding the category. A landlord gas safety record signed by a 19-year-old apprentice working alone would be invalid, so reassign the job. As of Oct 2026.
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, reg 3
Before day one
- Right to work checks before the first day. As of Oct 2026, the civil penalty is up to £45,000 per illegal worker and £60,000 for a repeat.
- A basic DBS check is good practice for anyone working in customers' homes.
- Driving licence checks for anyone driving a van.
- Gas Safe categories and scheme status checked before each type of job.
Keeping your customers when an engineer leaves
A restrictive covenant is enforceable only so far as it protects a legitimate business interest and is reasonable in scope, and there is no safe 6 to 12 month standard. To stop a leaving engineer taking your customers, have a solicitor draft a role-specific non-solicitation clause. As of Oct 2026.
Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32
The Employment Rights Act 2025 brought sick pay from day one in April 2026. As of Oct 2026, it also cuts the unfair dismissal qualifying period from 2 years to 6 months where the dismissal takes effect on or after 1 January 2027. Ask your specialist for the current pay floors and statutory pay before you set rates, and take an employment solicitor's advice before a dismissal or a change to pay terms.
Asked in Greymill
The leading case is about a plumber. In Pimlico Plumbers v Smith (Supreme Court, 2018), a plumber who was VAT-registered, taxed as self-employed and leased a branded van was still a worker, because he had to do the work personally under tight control.
Your van, uniform and diary point the same way.
The risk: PAYE, National Insurance and holiday pay you could owe.
Workers get holiday pay and the minimum wage.
Employees also get unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, after a qualifying period.
Your choice: employ him properly, or make the independence real: his own customers, his own pricing and a genuine right to send someone else.
I can run the same check on the rest of your team.
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Staff & HR works it through for your business.
I run a plumbing, heating or electrical business in the UK. I have [number] engineers: [for each, how they are paid, whose van and tools they use, who sets their diary and rates, and whether they can send someone else]. They start from [home or a base] and do on-call [how often, and what they must do while on call]. Tell me who is likely a worker or an employee, what that means for holiday pay and working time, and what to change first.
More for plumbing, heating and electrical in the UK
- My diary is full but nothing is left over: what should my charge-out rate and call-out fee be?Your engineers are paid for every hour but you only bill some of them, so build the rate from the hours you sell, not the hours you pay.Read the lesson
- Busy all summer on installs, yet the bank account is emptiest when the diary is fullestBreakdowns pay on the day, but installs, heat pump vouchers and letting agents pay late, so plan cash by the week, not by the season.Read the lesson
- Which VAT rate goes on the invoice: heat pump, boiler, wet room or new build?The VAT rate depends on what you install, for whom and in what kind of building, and charging too little comes out of your own margin.Read the lesson
- Can my engineer legally take this job, and who has to notify it?Gas, electrical and water work each has its own gatekeeper, and a job is not finished until the right person has done it, signed it and notified it.Read the lesson
- I went out for a repair and sold a new boiler: can the customer cancel?A homeowner's cancellation right, the emergency exception and the call-out fee all turn on what you put in writing before you started.Read the lesson
- Letting agents want me to take on their landlords' deadlines: how do I win the work safely?Landlord and agent work is won on reliability, so sell the diary, price the failed visit and keep the legal duty where it belongs.Read the lesson
- The appliance is dangerous, or the customer blames my repair for a flood: what do I do first?When a job turns dangerous or a customer blames you for damage, the order of your first steps and what you write down matter most.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every plumbing, heating and electrical lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- paras 44 to 50 (People: engineers, status, apprentices and on-call)
- Judgment (People: engineers, status, apprentices and on-call)
- Lock v British Gas [2016] EWCA Civ 983; Bear Scotland [2015] ICR 221 (People: engineers, status, apprentices and on-call)
- Rolled-up holiday pay (People: engineers, status, apprentices and on-call)
- Tyco C-266/14; Matzak C-518/15 (People: engineers, status, apprentices and on-call)
- Roadmap (People: engineers, status, apprentices and on-call)
- FCA DPC regime from 15 July 2026; RAO arts 36A and 60F (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- PERG 6 (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- reg 3(4); Best Practice Guide 4 (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- DESNZ asset-visibility call for evidence, Connect Direct; GOV.UK device-registration process (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)
- reg 3 (Hard cases: finance, tax, electrical and people)