The costs of an employment tribunal could harm an otherwise successful business.

That’s why we never cut corners in our approach to subcontractors despite competition from some reckless rivals.

Here is a case in point

A Sheffield employment tribunal found a civil engineer registered as a subcontractor under CIS was a "worker" and entitled to various rights and protections.

The tribunal heard the claimant had signed a form for “operatives”, worked under his own supervision, submitted what appeared to be invoices and timesheets and freely referred to himself under cross-examination as self-employed.

A Catlow Civil Engineering Ltd, represented by an HR consultant from EL Direct, argued the claimant was indeed a self-employed sole trader.

But the tribunal found enough evidence to define the claimant as a "worker" and ordered A Catlow to hand over holiday pay and return unauthorised wage deductions.

This was a winnable case

Ian Anfield, managing director of Hudson Contract, said: “This was a winnable case, typical of many faced by Hudson and its clients over the years.

“We always do the hard work behind the scenes using robust contracts and carrying out detailed audits to prove that they are being used correctly by clients and operatives alike.

“Hudson has fought off more than 100 similar cases and has engaged more than 170,000 freelancers without a single instance of employment status reclassification.

“We are the trusted partner of choice for construction SMEs when it comes to employment law.”