The regulations say:
A “personal service” is a service involving time or task-based work performed by one or more individuals at the request of a user, unless such a service is purely ancillary to the overall transaction.
The “personal service” definition covers a wide range of services and includes work facilitated by the Platform that is carried out online or performed offline at a physical location.
“The reference in the definition of a ‘personal service’ to providing a service ‘at the request of a user’ means that if a user (or a group of users) has not requested or invited the Seller to perform a service it is not a ‘personal’ service. For example, giving access to pre-recorded non-customised digital content (such as music, videos, podcasts etc.) which is available to the public or subscribers in general rather than at the request of a specific user is not considered to be a ‘personal service’.”
Examples of a personal service carried out at the request of a user (customer) include:
- transport services (such as taxi and private vehicle hire with a driver)
- delivery of goods or services (for example, food delivery)
- online services (such as IT services, data entry/manipulation, copywriting)
- freelance and professional work (for example, accountancy, tutoring, legal advice)
- provision of labour (such as cleaning, gardening, renovation)
- seasonal and temporary work (for example, event management, catering)
As you can see here, the range is a wide one.
Almost all freelance workers getting paid for services they book via an app will be in scope. The important bit of the definition of Personal Service, is that it is at the Request of a User
“The reference in the definition of a ‘personal service’ to providing a service ‘at the request of a user’ means that if a user (or a group of users) has not requested or invited the Seller to perform a service it is not a ‘personal’ service. For example, giving access to pre-recorded non-customised digital content (such as music, videos, podcasts etc.) which is available to the public or subscribers in general rather than at the request of a specific user is not considered to be a ‘personal service’.”
The indirect connection is an important one to consider. If user contracts with the platform to complete a piece of work, and then the platform uses freelancers signed up to the platform to complete the work, still in scope even though the user and the sellers don’t work directly with each other.
