Report by Julie Deane on increased rights for self-employed

[sportinguista]

Just saw this on BBC Breakfast. It includes bringing in rights to the same maternity allowance, right to have adoption allowance and better range of mortgage products etc.

What would, as a self employed person, be your hopes for this?

We are about to (hopefully) move home, we already have a mortgage but we are finding we will be limited in the products we can have and will have to wait until I have one year's accounts, ideally 2 and even then there may not be much. We are lucky to be below the 60% LTV but there still won't be much!

So flexible mortgages sounds good!

So thoughts on this...

it will never ever happen

joining the FSB might help as they do have lobbying power
but the view of the current system is all about cosying up to the big guys

You're probably right as they are busy taking rights from employed people too.

Considering the freelance economy is by all accounts growing, what will happen? Will we all just work on freelance contracts eventually and there be very few people actually employed and only at senior management levels, and they will be the only people entitled to these rights?

Yes I have made the choice to be freelance, fortunately the maternity allowance etc doesn't affect me now but I recently read an article about how to plan for maternity as a freelancer which included saving for time off but mostly seemed to suggest many female freelancers just worked as soon as they could after the birth. Given that the government want to encourage entrepreneurs maybe giving them a cushion at this time isn't totally ridiculous.

I think we are in a lucky position regarding getting a mortgage as its second property and good equity etc. if we weren't I might feel differently.

What's the point of the report if it's just going to disappear?

I think the current trend is to try to halt the spread of "pretend" self employment and scale back the huge number of freelancers and contractors who are more akin to being employees than genuine self employed business owners. Far too many people leaving "employment" on a Friday and returning to the same location and doing the same work on the Monday as a "self employed" contractor/consultant. That's happening in all industries and professions, from top to bottom. We're seeing the full range from supply teachers & nurses, to bricklayers and plasteres, to managing directors and top level consultants, all setting themselves up as businesses when the reality is that they're the only worker and they're really just an employee.

Any new rights for self employed will almost certainly be brought in along with new laws/rules to try to stop the disguised employment/pretend self employment, so that only genuine small business owners get the new rights.

Employers LOVE the freelancers - as they save a fortune on ERS NI, SSP, SMP and the rest

IR35 dealt with the victims not the instigators

but the government is in hock to big business

I know TiP my DH's work they seem to take away another perk/right away every week and they are employed.

I do love the freedom of being my own boss and I am a genuine freelancer in that I don't work for one company and don't really want to be tied to that structure. It would be good to at least get the option for things like SSP as it is hard when I am sick (not that I am a lot) but realistically I think there'll be less rights all round than more rights for SE.