Consultation starts for freelancers

The All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group (APPSBG) has started its consultation into freelancing - and freelancers are invited to make their voices and opinions heard.

For the past six months, UKTECH has been working closely with MPs and Peers associated with the Group, the largest of its type, to raise awareness of freelancers among Parliamentarians - firstly with a seminar in March and now with this consultation process and subsequent report.

UKTECH has been actively involved in freelancer issues for four years when it was the original vehicle by which freelancers came together for the campaign against IR35. Throughout that time, we have believed that the freelancer has been misunderstood by the powers-that-be and that lack of understanding of the benefits which freelancers can bring has led to the current climate of uncertainty and confusion as to their role.

When the All Party Group agreed to consider freelancers as the subject of its next report, the UKTECH network was used to consult with freelancers and other interested parties to formulate the key issues which would be considered by members of the political Group.

The All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group launched the consultation from its website today (May 19, 2003) with the following article.

Members of UKTECH network are invited to participate in this consultation process.

It is your opportunity to put your opinion and experience directly to the people who participate in the decision-making process.

By first raising awareness, we can then change attitudes

Direct access

If you are registered as a member of the UKTECH network, your user name and password will also allow access to the All Party Group website and you will be able to submit your comments directly.

A range of representative bodies, trade associations and their members will also be participating in the research. They will be informing their members directly of the consultation process.

Some of the representative bodies will also have direct access to the website for their members using their own log in and passwords.

Pilot projects

In addition to the general consultation area on the All Party Group, UKTECH is also co-ordinating a pilot project involving two Parliamentary constituencies - Hemel Hempstead (Tony McWalter MP) and Hertford and Stortford (Mark Prisk MP) - where freelancers will also be able to give their evidence directly to their MPs via the website

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Article from the All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group.

Freelancer Briefing: Background

The APPSBG is carrying out a briefing on freelancers. This will take evidence on-line and at a public hearing on June 11th 2003. This paper sets out the background.

Background

Perhaps an indication of how misunderstood the freelancer is, can be gleaned from the definition of the word in no less a respected tome than the Oxford dictionary.

Freelancer: (n) (a person) working for various employers rather than permanently employed by one.

Ask any freelancer and they will tell you that at the core of their motivation is that they are not working for employers.

A freelancer differs from an employee – or indeed a ‘temp’ in that they seek the freedom to be their own boss; to run their own business; to take responsibility for selling their knowledge and skills.

They seek the opportunity to succeed and the right to fail as business men and women of the 21st century.

The freelancer – particularly in the knowledge-based sector – is flexible, dynamic and integral to the success not only of his own small business, the larger clients he provides services for, and the economy at large to which he makes a significant contribution.

Freelancing is the flexible, entrepreneurial way forward for the UK’s economy.

Freelancers are often misunderstood or misrepresented. As such, they are stifled by bureaucracy and uncertainty as they get caught up by laws and taxes which were never intended in theory to snare their entrepreneurial spirit, but which in practice make them unable to fulfil their potential.

The European leaders at the Lisbon summit recognised the importance of a knowledge-based economy as key to our future economic prosperity. In order to serve a dynamic knowledge-based economy, you need dynamic knowledge-based businesses. The small business community, particularly the freelancer, is integral to this objective.

Political inquiry

Freelancers will now have an opportunity to raise awareness about the opportunities and threats facing them, as well as the benefits they bring.

The All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group (APPSBG) and the Genesis Initiative, the umbrella project for small businesses have decided that freelancers will be the subject of their next major report.

It is the first time that any political group has looked closely at this subject and it is expected that the findings will set the future agenda for freelancers in the UK.

Another significant step forward in this report is the manner in which it will be conducted. In keeping with the knowledge-based businesses of the future, this is the first time the consultation will be carried out directly with freelancers, online as well as the more traditional method of giving physical evidence.

UKTECH, the online freelancer network, is co-ordinating the technical approach through the APPSBG website

Freelancers will be invited to comment directly into the All Party Group via on-line consultation.

Additionally this will run concurrently with a cutting-edge pilot project which permits constituents to liaise directly with their MPs in two constituencies. (Details attached)

Consultation

The first stage was to identify the key issues relating to freelancing which will be the focus of the evidence gathering, which will include a hearing in the House of Commons in June.

UKTECH invited members of its network and other interested parties to contribute. (Copy email attached) Editor's note: attachments on All Party Site. Over 50 comments were received and as a result, the consultation will take place on three specific areas over a three week period.

The evidence will concentrate on actual case studies involving freelancers who are able to share their experiences

Week One: 19-05-2003: The role played by Freelancers? Consultation now under way

To the freelancer.

To the client.

To the economy

Week Two: 26-05-2003: Opportunities Facing Freelancers small businesses;

public procurement;

overseas opportunities;

Week Three: 02-06-2003: Threats facing Freelancers regulation – IR35; Section 660; Security Clearance outsourcing jobs; Preferred supplier deals importing people – FTVs, Intra Company Transfer

Each week freelancers will be invited to comment on these issues. Please forward this to anyone else in your circle of associates who want to help make a difference and will want to take advantage of this opportunity to have their voice heard.

This is the first time freelancers have been the subject of such a detailed political enquiry - and the first time freelancers have been invited to participate in such a manner. After evidence has been collated, conclusions will be drawn and recommendations made.

This will prove to be one of the primary reference sources for MPs and Peers and is likely to influence the approach politicians adopt toward freelancers and their importance to the flexible knowledge-based economy.

It is indicative of the future importance of this issue that the APPSBG has chosen it to be the subject of their report. Freelancers now have an opportunity to contribute directly to their future.

Links

Consultation area for freelancers on All Party Parliamentary Small Business Group

Issues consultation; held on www.UKTECH

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However, if you wish to participate in the consultation process with the All Party Group, please enter the All Party Group's website on the above 'consultation area' link. Your UKTECH user name and password are valid to log in on the All Party site

Editor's note, added May 19, 2003, 17:45:

PCG Members

To help clarify the situation: UKTECH is a free, transparent and independent network which provides news, information and resources for freelancers. It also facilitates opportunities for freelancers to make their voices heard in a wider arena. As well as liaising directly with members of its network on the site, UKTECH has been working closely with the All Party Group, the Genesis Initiative and other representative groups and trade associations to raise awareness of the issues relating to freelancing. This has involved the recent Freelancer Seminar in Parliament and the current All Party consultation exercise.

UKTECH, the All Party Group and some other representative bodies are 'networked' via Novacaster Community Software which enables registered users from one site to seamlessly transfer to another. These include UKTECH, Association of Taxation Technicians, Chartered Institute of Taxation, Royal Institution of Naval Architects, Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the Trade Association Forum.

UKTECH is not connected to the Professional Contractors Group (PCG) nor does PCG use the Novacaster system so members of the PCG will not be able to use their PCG user names and passwords to access the UKTECH site or the All Party Group site. They will need to register directly on the site.

UKTECH has invited all the relevant representative groups to inform their members of how they can participate directly in the consultation exercise.