I’ve been cancelled - should I get paid?

It's the curse of the freelancer. You've been booked for a job but at the last minute you get a call: you've been cancelled.

Big question is - should you get paid, and if so, how do you get what you're owed?

All freelancers are familiar with the cycle of booking - availability check (checking if you're free, no commitment either side), pencil (we may well want you, keep the date free), heavy pencil (really, don't go anywhere, it's going to happen) and a booking (game on, see you on the day).

It's when you're at the last of these stages that the question arises. Late cancellations are likely to happen to pretty much everyone at some time in their career so it's worth knowing your rights in that situation.

At the heart of the issue is whether or not you have a contract, as it is the existence of that which determines whether you have a legitimate claim for pay. Essentially no contract, no right to claim a wage if they decide they don't want you.

The problem is however that in an industry like ours, with a casualised workforce, a lot of booking is done through a phone call and it's not uncommon for freelancers only to get a written contract after they've started the work, or even after it has finished - and sometimes even never.

It's important to know however that a contract can exist even if it's not written down.

If your employer expects you to turn up to do the work and you've agreed a rate for the job then that could well be a verbal contract, which is as good as it being on paper.

In legal terms, a contract relies on an offer, an acceptance and something of value being exchanged (a "consideration") as well as the intention to go ahead with it. So if you have all the above in a conversation over the phone then that may well be enough for you to have entered into a binding contract. And if the company then breaks that, you do have a right to be paid.

So how can you claim the money?

Ultimately, if the company hasn't offered it, or disputes your right to be paid, then this becomes a battle of wills. Realistically, this almost certainly won't come down to a court fight because one side or other will give in before it gets to court. So you need to decide whether it will be you who backs down, or them.

Polite but firm insistence is often the key to winning this one. Companies that don't want to pay often stop responding, so keep on pressing the case. If, after a sufficient period of firm pressure, you haven't had a result then an email that gives them a deadline (a date and time at least one week ahead) after which you will take legal action will often focus their mind on dealing with the issue.

A no at this stage then leaves you with the choice to either:

1. Take out a claim (pretty straightforward, cost free if you win but it’s a long process),

2. Offer a compromise (half pay?),

or

3. Back away. If it's a company that is likely to offer you work in the future then you might want to factor that into your decision too.

With all these things though, it's often the one that holds their nerve that wins the fight. Good luck!