Osborne can’t afford to miss the contract workforce

Following on from our front-page report on what enterprise groups want to see in the chancellor’s Autumn Statement, CUK turned to the Freelancers and Contractors Services Association to learn what the smallest, one-person, contractor businesses would like to hear on November 29th.

Given the increasingly challenging economic time, it is more important than ever for George Osborne to recognise in his Autumn Statement the critical competitive advantage made to the UK economy by the flexible workforce, Stuart Davis, chairman of the FCSA writes.

 Central to his acknowledgment of their contribution must be the understanding that the flexible workforce is a diverse body of people with different support needs.

Consequently, a generic ‘one size fits all’ approach to policy-making for contractors and freelancers simply will not work.

Already, in the form of the MSC legislation and the AWR, we have seen this approach to policy-making damage various elements of this workforce while attempting to protect another. 

The chancellor therefore needs to establish a system whereby the vulnerable elements of the flexible workforce are protected from exploitation, while the self-starting, self-reliant, and self-supporting flexible workers are fully supported and encouraged.

Obviously the tax system plays a part in this.  As a result, it should recognise the value of those who are not permanent employees and provide incentives for ‘non-vulnerable’ temporary workers and the genuinely self employed.

With this in mind, anything that can free up these genuinely self-starting, self-reliant workers to get on with providing their services flexibly should be encouraged. In short Mr Osborne; protect the vulnerable and enable the capable.