Honestscott76:
Drivers who only provide their labour, driving vehicles owned, maintained, and insured by contractors, are likely to be employees. Drivers who also provide the means of transport, that is the vehicle, are likely to be self-employed even if they work mainly for one principal. The vehicle may be one which they own or lease (see ESM4211).
Also read this for details:
ESM0500 - Guide to determining status - overview: contents - HMRC internal manual - GOV.UKThe links you highlight are misleading.
From experience it’s my firm belief that drivers who only provide their labour, driving owned vehicles have been outlawed by HMRC as self employed (sole traders). However It’s perfectly acceptable for Limited Companies to supply drivers to drive owned vehicles, in some instances these drivers are employed by the Limited Company and employees for HMRC purposes.
But the effect of other legislation is to deprive these Limited Company arrangements of any tax advantage - because merely interposing a Limited Company in an employment relationship means you will still be liable for operating a PAYE system.
We then end up back to the same question as applied to the sole trader without a Limited Company, of asking whether he is genuinely self-employed or whether the arrangements are just a charade and he is an employee in relation to whom PAYE taxes are due.
A genuinely self-employed professional can still operate as a sole trader - it’s just that nobody accepts that drivers are self-employed.