[1] Mr Muschett had enrolled with a subsidiary of an employment agency named Brook Street plc, and he was sent on temporary assignment to HM Prison Service at the Feltham Young Offenders Unit, hoping this would lead to a permanent post.

He had no written contract with the prison, and his wages were paid by the agency which made tax and national insurance deductions.

After four months his job was terminated, and he brought claims for unfair and wrongful dismissal, and discrimination on grounds of sex, race and religion against both the prison service and the agency.

Mr Muschett argued that as a litigant in person, the employment judge should have a duty to help unearth relevant facts, and that the EAT had not properly considered whether a contract could be implied, or the wider definition of ‘employee’ in the Race Relations Act 1976 section 78, and the analogous equality laws.

The question was whether under RRA 1976 section 78 there could be found a contract ‘personally to execute any work or labour’.