What is an illegal contract of employment?
Illegal contracts of employment include:- • contracts designed to defraud the HM Revenue and Customs and the DWP (Department for Work & Pensions) by not paying tax and/or national insurance • contracts mainly for immoral or illegal acts, for example, procuring prostitutes or unauthorised selling of controlled drugs • contracts prohibited by law, for example, work in breach of immigration rules. Note: If a contract tries to take away your statutory rights, it is not an illegal contract but the clauses, which try to do this, will not be enforceable. This means that an employer and employee can agree to whatever terms they wish to be in the contract, but an employee cannot normally agree to a contractual term which gives fewer rights than they would be given by law – ie. their statutory rights. You will have an illegal contract of employment if:- • you get all or part of your wages paid cash in hand; and • tax and national insurance contributions are not paid on the wages when they should
